Month: January 2012

The two famous Australian rugby stars, Stirling Mortlock and George Smith have been awarded the ‘Officers of the Order of Australia’ during yesterday’s Australia Day honourings.

Mortlock is a former captain of the Australian rugby team. He has scored over 500 test points for the Wallabies and was also skipper for Australia and Brumbies. He now plays for the Melbourne Rebels, where he has also been appointed as captain.

Smith is currently a flanker for the Toulon rugby team. He played 110 matches for the Wallabies, before retiring from the Australian national team on February 5, 2010. George is the Wallaby forward with the most appearances and the highest capped flanker in Rugby Union’s history.

Mortlock and George shared almost 90% of their international caps. They are both from Sydney and total a staggering 190 caps for the Wallabies. Reports confirm that they are delighted by the award. We also want to congratulate them once again for a great career.

The two stars also expressed their public desire to witness the 2012 Australian Open Final from Rod Laver Arena. Who knows, perhaps we will see them on Sunday in the stands.

There have been numerous speculations going on regarding the vacant post of the coach of the Australia Rugby team.

With the retirement of the New Zealander Robbie Deans, the doors are open for the Wallabies and they are expecting Ewen Mckenzie of the Queensland red to come and coach them.

Mckenzie is quite a well known personality when it comes to the rugby circuit as he has made a huge impact by improving the game performance and the victory counts for the Queensland Reds.

Mckenzie however has probably decided to continue and extend his contract till 2014 as he seems to be quite happy with his current club. The Australia rugby team however are leaving no stone unturned and are making use of all possible situations where they can convince him into coaching their team.

Mckenzie has been opted as a future mentor for the Wallabies for quite some time and they will not give up until the final verdict takes place and they realize that there are no expectations further on.

The doors for the Wallabies are still open and they hope that they manage to get someone who is capable of making an impact and improving their performance and ranking on the leader board.

The Australia rugby team need to find other alternatives to help them have a more professional approach to their game so that they can improve on their weak areas and excel in them so that they can face the real champions in the years to come and beat the best at their game.

The transfer windows open up every year and teams keep trying their level best to hire some of the finest coaches and players through these transfers. Not all of them end successfully though and alternative strategies need to be implemented.