Wednesday’s Rugby News has revenge on Hunt’s mind, Uelese signing on, World Rugby refuting claims Samoa is broke, and Warren Gatland looking for revenge.
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Revenge
The Wallabies got done by Scotland in June, and so the upcoming game this weekend is a chance for revenge. Karmichael Hunt, someone always eager for revenge, is eager for revenge. And some other things too.
Back in June, if you don’t remember, Michael Cheika flogged the Wallabies with loads of fitness and hill sprints and so on.
“We were playing probably two or three Test matches a week in June in the lead-up to games but now it’s just calmed down a little bit,” he told rugby.com.au.
“We’re getting a lot more reps in but a lot less amount of strain.
“The way that the coaches are preparing us is one of the biggest differences compared to June right now. They’re really making sure that come game day we’re up and about, we’re not sort of dragging our heels.”
Part of the June flogging, Hunt says, was to build the team up so they’d peak in November.
“That was how he (Cheika) explained to us that although we wanted to win each game in June, the load of those weeks were going to be higher than normal because he wanted us to prepare for the end of the year,” he said.
“He’s a master planner, he’s obviously been in the business a while and understands how to get teams up and about when most needed.
“The results haven’t gone entirely our way this time of the year but I feel we’re a much better team than we were in June.”
Although he’s not using at as an excuse, Hunt says he feels being a bit cooked mightn’t have left in the best prep for the first Scotland game.
“I was definitely a lot more fatigued than normal,” said the bloke who played Kill the Dill with Pill, Melbourne version.
“The plan was laid ahead and we weren’t going to be in tip-top shape but we were good enough to go out there and compete and there’s definitely no excuses from our part.
“We felt we should have won that game and we didn’t turn up with our best performance, it was as simple as that.
“It wasn’t down to fatigue or anything like that, it more so execution.”
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New Uelese of Life
Jordan Uelese has committed to the Rebels and the Wallabies until 2020, reports rugby.com.au.
The rookie hooker, who made his Wallabies debut after only 28 minutes (guess who got injured) against South Africa in Perth earlier this year. Uelese was also a standout for the u20s at the u20s World Cup in Georgia.
“I’m really excited to have the opportunity to continue my Super Rugby career in my home town with the Rebels,” said the Victorian-born hooker.
“It’s the dream of every player in Australia to represent the Wallabies at a Rugby World Cup but I understand that I’ve still got plenty of hard work ahead of me to improve all areas of my game to give myself the best chance.
“I feel like my best development will come at the Rebels in the world-class rugby environment so I look forward to playing my part in contributing to the club on and off the field for the years to come.”
If you’re wondering where Uelese currently is, he’s with the Wallabies in Europe.
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Samoa Shenanigans
There was new last week that the Samoan RU had ran out of cash and were asking for some help.
Well there’s news today that World Rugby are refuting the claims of the Samoa PM, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, who a) claimed the RU had no money and that b) that World Rugby interfered in coach selection. It seems that the governing body are refuting both of these claims.
“World Rugby continues to be fully committed to assisting the Samoa Rugby Union (SRU) with its current financial challenges,” a World Rugby statement says.
“Recent statements made by the chairman of the SRU questioning World Rugby’s funding package are inaccurate. While the SRU’s failure to implement some jointly agreed high-performance initiatives in 2017 is a concern to World Rugby, it has resulted in a small amount of conditional investment being withheld.
“World Rugby’s support of all tier two unions is both financial and administrative and is delivered on a partnership basis with each union. World Rugby continues to support the SRU’s national men’s 15s and sevens high-performance programmes with a record £1.5 million [$2.62 million] in overall investment in 2017.
“World Rugby can clarify that the union is not bankrupt and would also like to clarify the inaccurate statements made by the SRU Chairman relating to the selection of the national men’s 15s team coach. ”
According to World Rugby, they’ve paid for the insurance and travel costs for the Samoan national team, as well as paying for one-week training camp before the November internationals.
To add to the story, Fox Sports says that a report compiled by former captain Mahonri Schwalger after the 2011 World Cup accused the Manu Samoa management of “being unprofessional and treating the event like a holiday.”
“Then in 2014, players threatened to boycott Samoa’s Test against England at Twickenham due to lack of financial transparency and poor treatment by management.
“At the time, Malielegaoi dismissed the player complaints as the “opinions of little kids.””
Interesting indeed
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Wazzaaap
Wales and New Zealand are set to face each other on Saturday, which has naturally brought the media coverage back to the Lions series, and Warren Gatland and Steve Hansen.
Gatland, at the time, fell victim to the nefarious clown illustrators while he was in New Zealand, having a red nose and frilly neck thing put upon him. This career-defining image was created after Gatland criticised the reaction of some New Zealanders. So, Wazza was asked some questions about that.
“There was some pretty underhand stuff going on. It was challenging,” Gatland said, according to ESPN.
“There are one or two people I would like to get into a corner of a room on their own with me. But that might wait for another day.”
While he was saying this, Gatland was also asked how he felt about Hansen. Gatland and Hansen had a bit of to-and-fro during the whole thing, especially after Gatland said he “hated’ going to New Zealand because of all the “press and negativity”.
“People try to make a lot of stuff about myself and Steve, but from my point of view there are no issues between us,” Gatland said, without adding “all I want is just his job.”
“I have a huge amount of respect for what he has achieved in the game, and the success he has had as an All Black coach. He has been absolutely outstanding.
“I look forward to catching up with him on Saturday, having a beer after the game.
“In recent years on a couple of occasions we have gone out as two management groups for meals during the week.
“We all understand the pressures we are under, but they are not as a result of our relationship.”
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