Welcome back special guest writer and prolific G&GR commentator, Mr AllyOz. And to clarify is not paid by the word…
Here are some short summaries after a quick run around of some of the major rugby news sites.
Eddie Jones: coaching genius or court jester?
Nick Bishop provides some more analysis of the Eddie Jones saga, with comments from Stephen Moore, who thinks Joe Schmidt, Ronan O’Gara or Dan McKellar would make good Wallabies coaches. Nick also goes into his personal encounters with EJ in 2015, when Eddie brushed aside a 75- page analysis by him, and in 2019 when EJ contacted him to talk tactics just two weeks before his England sacking. Bishop describes Jones as both “a fast-acting genius who could put plans together with outstanding speed and accuracy; but also, a breakneck intelligence which could just as easily cause burnout and leave others in ruins around him.” Bishop finishes with his favourite thing – going through game footage to support the points he’s made above. He provides some in-depth analysis of Eddie’s more successful tactics, primarily with England against NZ (and one from his first stint with Australia against England. While possibly no great fan of Eddie the man, Bishop still seems to see value in him as a coach with this comment “It’s impossible to appreciate the tactical subtlety of Eddie’s expert manipulation of the New Zealand backfield until you freeze-frame the ruck before the try.”
And that’s what I like about Nick Bishop’s articles, he is always seemingly prepared to give credit where it’s due and always provides plenty of evidence to support his points.
Read more here
Eddie Jones: coaching genius or court jester? (rugbypass.com)
Ireland tie down Andy Farrell with long-term deal
Pretty much as the headline says it. He has signed through to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia. Everyone says nice things about each other, Ireland about Farrell and Farrell about Ireland. David Nucifora hasn’t jumped on a plane home yet as he said, “Over the course of the last four years Andy has helped drive the highest standards for the men’s national team and it is testament to the positive environment which he and his backroom team have fostered that Ireland has enjoyed such a sustained period of success in recent times. Andy is an ambitious and talented coach who continues to make an indelible mark on Irish rugby, and it is a significant coup to retain his services. I have no doubt that he will look to build in the years to come.”
Read more here
Ireland tie down Andy Farrell with long-term deal (rugbypass.com)
‘We are burning our assets into the ground’: Bok greats on South Africa joining Six Nations
Another on RugbyPass and an interesting take. It details a conversation on an SA rugby programme with Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana and Damian Willemse. Basically, they suggest that they don’t really have a place in Six Nations and should stick with the TRC, but the current seasons with URC for club then TRC and end of season tours doesn’t give the SA players a real break (sound of tiny violins).
Bryan Habana argues that, as rugby is a global game they should align all the seasons and start all club football in September, play the Rugby Championship in alignment with the Six Nations and that would give them a bit of an off season. I know this has been suggested elsewhere too and EP proposed it once in the forums. It was 38 degrees here yesterday and humid AF and it was still in the mid-20s at 10 pm last night and I’m only in Northern NSW, so personally, I wouldn’t fancy it. Anyway, some quotes from Bryan and Jean.
De Villiers added: “The Six Nations, what it stands for, the history of it, you need to ask those questions as well. How does it influence the history of the game and all of that. I think we’ve got the best of both worlds currently where we play our club rugby in the northern hemisphere and and we play our international rugby in the southern hemisphere in the Rugby Championship. So you get the best of both worlds.
“If we were to move totally to the northern hemisphere, we’ve already seen the logistical challenges with that and I think we’ll lose a big part of what South African rugby is all about, because we play New Zealand so much, because we play Australia and Argentina so much. So from that point of view, moving away to me will be risky. But a lot of the decisions get made on a financial basis and not really on the rugby as such, to be brutally honest.”
And from Bryan:
“If we really want a global season, everyone must start in September. Jean says we have the best of both worlds, but these guys [South Africa players] aren’t getting any rest now because they’re literally going from Champions Cup, if they make it to the knockouts, URC, if they make it to the knockouts, into a Springbok season, into the Rugby Championship, and then end of year tour.”
Read more here:
Suaali’i and Nawaqanitawase have backed themselves — all power to them
A well-balanced article from Sam Bruce at ESPN. We’ve seen most of the discussion elsewhere but he takes an interesting tack and talks about the options for the modern players. Personally, I don’t think there are too many people that can successfully do the transition but yeah, as Sam finishes “all power to them”.
Read more here:
Suaali’i, Nawaqanitawase have backed themselves — all power to them – ESPN
Triston Reilly returns to NSW Waratahs
This one is written by a new author “Waratahs Media” and appeared on rugby.com.au. No offence but I haven’t heard of Triston so I don’t know if his return is a huge benefit to the 2024 Super Rugby Dunghutti Country NSW, which, to those of us less familiar with Aboriginal place names is the area that now centres around Kempsey on the NSW Mid North Coast. He has played with Randwick and Australia 7s (sorry should that be SVNS) and had nine caps for the Waratahs before departing in 2022. He played some NRL last year but didn’t come across my radar and he plays in the outside backs so he will have some competition at the Tahs.
Jake White could do Wallabies Job
It’s in the Canberra Times and on the Shouty site but I didn’t want to give them a plug. Ben Alexander, former Wallabies prop, suggests that
“If you look back to what we’ve got over the next four years, and when you look at his resume, he knows what the Australian rugby environment is like because he’s been in it reasonably recently,” “And with that ’07 World Cup, people forget in 2003 the Springboks were a bit of a mess there. He brought a lot of young guys through in ’04 that were a part of his under-21 side that he won the Junior World Cup with. Four years later, they win the World Cup.
“He did the same here. He came in when the Brumbies were low and he turned us around and the Brumbies have been rock solid ever since.
“Normally when there’s a job, Jake’s got a track record like Eddie where his name always gets thrown in the hat every time [there’s a job available], but just how Jake turned around the Brumbies so well in those two years, and the Wallabies is an even bigger challenge, I think he’s up for it.”
This is the best quote
“Is White past it? I thought Eddie coming back was amazing, but it turned out to be an almighty s–t
show. Who knows. Maybe he is. That’s why I’m not involved in selecting the coach,” Alexander said.
Look for it and you’ll find it.
Sonny Bill Williams calls Eddie Jones ‘a disgrace’ who ‘obviously lied’ to Australia’s players and
fans reported on Planet Rugby and elsewhere. Read the headline and you’ve got most of the story.
The fact that SBW says this and attempts to maintain his integrity while pictured wearing a skivvy is
interesting….not sure he quite manages it. “I’m a big believer in the proof is in the pudding and what is his proof? His proof is he’s been fired, sacked from England in the last few years. He’s burned a lot of bridges.” This quote caught my interest as I quite like pudding. But the more I read it, the less sense it appeared to make. Not a huge fan of SBW as a commentator to be honest and not sure he is the one to set himself up as the moral guardian of rugby in Australia given that he never played rugby for us, swapped between league, union and boxing to suit himself and made some mistakes of his own (both around contracting and in other areas), though admittedly as a younger man than Jones was. From my perspective, its probably time to move on from the Eddie story. It’s in our past and what’s done is done.
Read it here:
Sonny Bill Williams calls Eddie Jones ‘a disgrace’ who ‘lied’ to Australia : PlanetRugby
Invested Moore’s simple advice to RA after Eddie exit
Murray Wenzel from AAP quotes Stephen Moore as saying that “It was a pretty unfortunate time, the last 12 months for Australian rugby” and he felt that some “strange decision making” led to some significant issues for the code. Moore is now working as the CEO of a company that is a new major sponsor of the Reds and of the new rugby training facility at Ballymore.
He also praised Brad Thorn’s contribution as a coach but says Les Kiss could take the Reds to the next level and he is pretty happy with the developments at Ballymore.
“It was run down over the last 20 years, Ballymore, and that reflected in the feeling around the
place,” Moore said. “But when you go there now it’s a professional feel and it rubs off. The players
feel that and at some point we need to see that reflected on the field.”
