The Rogues Rant

Welcome to The Rogues Rant, an occasional look at all things Rugby.

The rising career of former Vikings junior Reece Hewat goes on. Reece was recently appointed Captain of the Australian Under 20 side to compete in this week’s Oceania U20 Championships. The big No.8 who led the Queenslanders to the inaugural Super 20’s Championship, will be first on the field on Friday night when the Aussies take on Samoa in game one of the tournament. Australia will play Fiji on Tuesday and the final match against arch Rivals and tournament favorites New Zealand will be played on Saturday week.

It’s Country Week this week with our Illawarriors traveling to Port Macquarie for a crack at going back to back to back Caldwell Cup winners. Illawarra has never won the title three times running but coach Shaun McCreedy thinks he has the squad to give the three peat a real shake. I have to agree as I reckon Shaun has picked a squad full of in form players who will cherish the opportunity to represent the Illawarra. The squad is a mixture of experience led by skipper Paul Tuala and several exciting young new comers. I’ll be there to report on all the action. Keep an eye on the IDRU Facebook page and the Website for updates and full match reports.

Spare a thought for Michael Cheika. The Wallabies have three test matches this year in June against Fiji, Scotland and Italy, before the Rugby Championships start in August. Last season was a huge disappointment for Wallaby fans after such a great effort from the team in the World Cup. Given the form of the Aussie Super Rugby sides, Cheika has the job ahead of him to lift the Wallabies spirits for this year’s program. Good luck to him.