Monday’s Rugby News has a Eureka moment from Tony McGahan, the u20s winning, Cheika telling Aussies to play shackle free, and Daryl Gibson chuffed with a win (and a job).
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No Halfbacks, No Good
Rebels head coach Tony McGahan has put finger to chin and come up with the following wisdom.
“It wasn’t much of a spectacle, really, was it,” said McGahan, according to rugby.com.au, who saw his team get tonked 44-3 by the Kings.
“Especially on our side, losing Nic Stirzaker last night really hurt us. We only travelled with two nines, Mick Snowden starts, goes in and I thought we looked okay there for 15 minutes in attack and then we ended up losing Mick.
“So we ended up using Colby Fainga’a and Ben Volavola. I think we toiled hard, we just weren’t able to control the ball.”
As McGahan said, Stirzaker got injured, then back up Snowden got injured too. So McGahan put Fainga’a at scrumhalf, and sent on a fourth flanker. but then later put Jackson Garden-Bachop on for Will Miller (another flanker), and then took off Fainga’a only to replace him with Miller.
“We dominated possession [Rebels had 61% of the ball] but they defended really well,” McGahan continued. “Their spirit grew as the game went on and the scoreboard reflected that.”
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Aus u20s win 1st game
As you might have read over here, the Australian u20s won their first game of the Oceania u20s championship last Friday.
The lads beat Samoa 43-20, with Simon Cron’s charges running in seven tries to two, in what where quite the slippery conditions.
Meanwhile, in the other game, New Zealand edged out Fiji 63-3.
The next game is on Tuesday, with the Kiwis taking on Samoa while Australia takes on Fiji. All games are being held at the Gold Coast’s Bond University.
The Oceania u20s Championship is being used by all teams to prepare for the upcoming u20s World Cup, which will be held in Georgia in May and June.
You can read all about the game here.
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Cheika Wants Less Shackles
Michael Cheika reckons all Australian rugby needs is a bit of up the guts and into ’em, according to the SMH.
“Sometimes seasons change on the turn of a dime. I’ve been there. I know we’ve had our struggles, but I’ll always believe in our players.
“It would be ignorant of me to see there’s not an air of negativity around what’s happening at the moment … a lot of negative press. And that gets into the heads of the players. The results haven’t been good for us.
“But we have the opportunity to play … the type of football that will get us and our crowds enjoying the game again. It’s a big opportunity for us.”
Ok. Simple as that. Cheika also responded to a question about how he’s gonna pick the Wallabies.
“We went out in February and spoke to all players about how the selection criteria runs this year,” said Cheika, who told the players that form would be a big factor. “And we’re sticking pretty true to that. Where there is competition for places, that criteria is really going to count.
“We’re just going to have to make it a bit simple first up. Most of the guys will have a working knowledge of how we’re playing. I’ll try to reference that in the lead-up a little bit, get out and talk to some of the lads without interfering in what they’re doing in Super Rugby.
“And you know what? Just get together a bit, guys … reconnecting. The most important thing is for the guys to get back and enjoy playing footy together,” said Cheika who probably definitely listened to the GAGR podcast with Ben Darwin.
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Gibson Hopes For Wins
Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson hopes his side’s win over the Reds will give his team the confidence, or will to actually win, to win games.
“It’s a big win for us. You can tell by the feeling in the dressing room. It’s a massive boost for us given where we have been,’’ Gibson told Fox Sports, happy that he still has a job until the next time some shit team beats the Tahs.
“Not at all (does the pressure lift). Every match I go into as a coach I feel the pressure. The pressure to perform and make sure the team performs to the level they should be.
“We’ve had a wonderful opportunity tonight to really gain some momentum.’’
Unsurprisingly, Gibson didn’t really want to wade into the referee debate that Reds coach Nick Stiles jumped into.
“Every match you play, the referee has an influence… I thought it was an excellent match, it was very close, it could have gone either way. You are always going to get matches where it’s going to be tight and contentious,’’ he said.
“It was excellent game. It had real intent from both teams … the second half I thought we really dominated territory and possession. We managed to hang in… some wonderful pressure kicks from Bernard Foley got us across the line.’’
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