Tuesday’s Rugby News has Penrith Emus being cut from the Shute Shield, Tongan Thor wanting more caps, a new England coach in the works and the Waratahs with a chance.
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More Western Cuts
It was rumoured yesterday, and done today.
The Penrith Emus have been cut by the Shute Shield, with the Sydney Rugby Union citing numerous factors.
“The long standing issues around governance, safety and wellbeing of players, financial viability, qualified coaching and support personnel has forced the board to withdraw the club,” said SRU chairman David Begg in a statement (via rugby.com.au)
“The Sydney Rugby Union board has taken comprehensive steps to provide every available opportunity for Penrith Rugby Union Club to remain in the Sydney Premiership competition,.
“However, the club’s inability to meet the standards set for all clubs to compete at the Premiership level has resulted in them being withdrawn from the competition.”
The SRU says it will work closely with the NSWRU to “support the individual players impacted by this, to ensure they have other avenues available to them in rugby”.
Penrith have only got 1 win in the last 4 years, and have never got into the Shute Shield finalin its 27 years. They had lost their 4 games this year by a collective score of 289-22; those games will be now credited as a 28-0 (bonus point) win or a bye.
It is not fully understood what’s going to happen with the now 11-team Shute Shield in 2019. The Shute Shield now only has 1 team from Western Sydney (3 including West Harbour, if you consider Concord and Ashfield in the West, and the tail of Eastwood’s district), while it has 2 teams apiece in the North Shore, Northern Beaches, and the Eastern Suburbs.
There are rumours that the another team from Western Sydney will be made or found to put into Shute 2019, but either way Penrith chairman Jim Hooks doesn’t think that’ll be the case.
“This is not based on fact, ti’s based on fiction and agenda-driven processes, (I’m) absolutely disgusted,” Hooks said, swinging (also via rugby.com.au).
“It is clear there are other things going on in the background.
“In some respects (it was a surprise), but we’ve been under constant pressure from the day we walked in the door, we met with conditions but some we mustn’t be aware of.
“To make a decision not just about Penrith about the development of rugby in Western Sydney and about the wonderful, aspirational footballers, that want to represent their district.
“It seems incredulous you would take a club out of the competition that is for grassroots and the development of rugby in an area like Greater Western Sydney, that will soon have close to two million people.”
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Thor Wants More Caps
The Wallabies are out promoting the Irish series by taking the ingenious step of doing a presser in an Irish pub. Fancy that!*
Tongan Thor, now Australian Thor, was there which is funny because he doesn’t have many caps. But he wants more, so thats why he’s there.
“I really hope I’ll be able to get a chance to play later on this year,” Tupou said, according to rugby.com.au. “I’ve been focusing on the Reds but if I get a chance to play again that would be awesome.”
Tupou has been smashing it at the Reds, and the 1-cap Wallaby (who came on for Kepu after his red I think) says that 1 cap has left him wanting more More MORE.
“It helped a lot, especially at scrum time,” Tupou said.
“Coming off of school in New Zealand as a big prop I used to just run over the white boys.
“But if you don’t have the scrum you can’t play so I have been learning from guys like James Slipper, Sekope Kepu and Alan Alaalatoa.
“I’m looking forward to working with them again in June and then hopefully later in the year.”
*The ARU needs to connect with Australia. There’s more than just Irish pubs and Guinness and lucky charms. Here’s 3 (three) free (FREE) marketing ideas for the ARU that they do tie ins for the Irish series –
- Hang a Blarney Stone on Storey Bridge and hang Michael Cheika upside down and get him to kiss it for good luck
- Get Bernard Foley to shave his hair and make him sing Nothing Compares 2 U in front of backdrop of 2010-era Quade highlights
- Wheel out Jimeoin as a commentator and get him to say funny stuff
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New England Coach
The RFU are looking at a few candidates to replace Eddie Jones at the end of the 2019 Rugby World Cup. And surprise surprise if it isn’t plucky little England nabbing their rivals coaches from them.
The London Telegraph (via the SMH) is reporting that England are sniffing around Ireland’s Joe Schmidt and Wales’ Warren Gatland. Jones has a contract to 2021, but there’s a get-out clause if he doesn’t meet the ‘performance target’ at the Rugby World Cup.
Asked if pinching a Six Nations coach was dog move, RFU CEO Steve Brown said nah.
“No, (a gentleman’s agreement) doesn’t exist”, Brown said. “half of the tier-one coaches changed at the last World Cup and most of them were northern hemisphere, so they are going to go in different directions.
“It’s pretty competitive, so no one’s off limits. It’s all to do with whether they fit the profile and the criteria that we’re looking for. Whilst we would love to have an English head coach eventually, our priority is still to get the best coach for England.
“We’re not precluding anyone from the list.But what we’re not going to do is to upset another union. We are going to be respectful of those arrangements, as we would expect others to do with us.”
If Jones stays on until 2021, one plan the RFU have is to send his chosen successor on a two-year sabbatical to go coach a tier-two nation, like Georgia. Because the RFU can do that, farm coaches out and take em back when they’re good.
That could mean Andy Farrell, the current Ireland defence coach (previously of England), being the next one in the English hot seat. And he’d be English too, unlike Schmit or Gatland who are both Kiwis.
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Heaven Sent
Israel Folau is looking likely to return to the Waratahs team this weekend against the Blues, which would go a way towards an Australian side beating the a Kiwi side for the first time in AD.
The Blues have 17 (!) players out, including Sonny Bill Williams, and became the first Kiwi victim of the Jaguares last weekend. The Waratahs meanwhile are only half-bad this season.
Paul Cully of the SMH certainly thinks the time could be nigh.
“Waratahs have a wonderful chance to end the trans-Tasman misery,” he writes. “At the risk of cursing them, the Waratahs must go into the match against the Blues at Brookvale on Saturday with a fair chance of ending Australia’s dreadful record against Kiwi sides.
“It’s hard not to feel for the Blues. Not only do their young halves seem determined to drive coach Tana Umaga to the brink of despair, but they are so beaten up…they have lost almost an entire back line outside No.10, they have issues at the scrum and lineout – particularly when hooker James Parsons is off the field – and the Ioane brothers are not getting the room they need.
“The Waratahs have test players at No.9, No.10 and No.12 who played in a World Cup final three years ago. This is not a match they will lose. Get that champagne ready. Probably.”
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