Is it a case of "same old, same old" for the Poms? Alot of the usual mistakes present I must say. Plently of dropped catches too which proved costly. Namely when Clarke was dropped. Lords has always been a good ground for us to play on but honestly i'd be surprised if Australia dropped a game before ...

1st Test:

1st inns Australia....190

Langer 40
Harmison 5/43

1st inns England....155

Pietersen 57
McGrath 5/53

2nd inns Australia....384

Clarke 91
Harmison 3/54

2nd inns England....180

Pietersen 64*
McGrath 4/29
Warne 4/64

Australia won late on the 4th day by 239 runs . Australia leads ...

If Roy Masters in the SMH is correct you wont have to worry about Channel 7 being involved with the NRL. It seems Channel 9 will continue to be the FTA network of the NRL. So much for the massive bidding war that was going to provide the NRL with extra millions for development work etc. Same old ...

I'm not really up to date with Rugby League in Perth, but I doubt Rugby League would be driven to the point of extinction. Possibly it will just remain however it is now, but Rugby will certainly grow you would think. By how much? We can only sit and wait. The sport has always held some interest in ...

Thankfully I wasn't affected by commentator garbage, as I attended the match :)

I just got the impression Johns found it tough to keep up early on. He played solidly but I felt he was feeling it more than most, as you'd expect of course given he had limited matches prior to the Origin. The ...

Yes it is an important statistic.

There are, what, upwards of 70 home and away matches in Super 12 Rugby each season? The TV audience for these matches in Australia is roughly the equivilent of one half of a round of AFL football.

I'd be interested to see some more legitimate figures on Rugby ...

Early March they finished wasn't it? Either way that's still around 10-12 weeks I spose. When you're talking about time bewteen series, I still think that's a big gap. Still, I don't think it's time to panic just yet. Even if we end up losing the Natwest Challenge. I believe the real indication of ...

Joey had a superb second 40 but looked out of sorts in the opening stages. The forward pass call against Queensland and the 40-20 kick from Johns that followed was what turned the game around for us I think. Had Queensland scored that try it would have been hard to come back, as they put on 12 ...

The Poms will play off confidence more than anything I think. And if they take out the Natwest Challenge they'll be tough to beat in the First Test. However, I think the Aussie form slump is simply due to a lack of Cricket. If memory serves me well this would have to be one of the longest breaks ...

Here is a response from a Rugby League perspective (nrl.com). I'd like to get an AFL perpsective also. Beaussie?

Little faith in Sweeney report: NRL

21 June 2005

You will notice in the media today references to the Sweeney report.

The report claims:

*that rugby has overtaken rugby league based ...

Game's stocks are on rise
By Peter Jenkins
June 21, 2005

AUSTRALIAN Rugby Union bosses last night welcomed an independent survey that shows the code has developed a stronger following nationwide than rugby league.

First time union has surpassed league nationally.
The Sweeney Sports Report ...

I may have Beaussie, not sure. I know that i've always had mixed thoughts on the Bangers though. However, aslong as they were given good exposure against the top nations on a regular basis I was confident that in years to come they would possibly have a similar progression to Sri Lanka. That being ...

Tour Match: Somerset -vs- Australia, 15th June 2005 at County Ground, Taunton

Australia 5/342 (50)

Ponting 80* (86) retired hurt
Hayden 76 (53)
Clarke 63* (45)

Jayasuria 1/47 (8)

lost to

Somerset 6/345 (46.5)

Smith 108 (74)
Jayasuria 101 (79)
Hildereth 38* (24)

McGrath 2/49 (10)
Hussey ...

Tewnty 20 International: England -vs- Australia, 13th June 2005 at The Rose Bowl, South Hampton

England 8/179 (20)

Collingwood 46 (26)
Trescothick 41 (37)
Pietersen 34 (18)

McGrath 3/31 (4)
Symonds 2/14 (3)

def.

Australia 79 (14.3)

Gillespie 24 (18) :clap:
Gilchrist 15 (14)
Lee 15 (20 ...

I don't really think football and cricket are comparable with regards to TV -vs- the gate, mainly due to the amount of games that are actually played. There is only one test match a year in the country's five biggest cities and between 2 and 3 one day games if you are lucky. With the way that ...