With the southern hemisphere test season and Olympic sevens about to start, there’s an abundance of rugby news on a Wednesday for a change. Here’s today’s selection.
Slipper cleared to return
Nathan “I can change my name to Nick if the podcast needs a gimmick” Williamson reports that Wallabies prop James Slipper has shrugged off any concerns around his calf injury as he begins his quest to break the record as the most-capped Wallaby.
Slipper missed the end of the Super Rugby Pacific season with the strain picked up during the round 14 clash with the Rebels. “The calf is going well, I ran pretty well at the end of last week” Slipper said to reporters and Nathan. “I’m confident it’s at a point where I can push it.”
The fitness of Slipper will take extra significance this year as record watch begins for the veteran prop just five Tests behind George Gregan’s 139 appearances as most capped Wallaby, but about a billion words behind the record for on-field words spoken, also held by the scrum-half. If he plays every game this year, it will see Slipper tie the record in Perth against South Africa and break the record against Argentina.
“(The Lions) might have been circled on the calendar but you never know when your last game is going to happen,” Slipper said. “That’s what special about is you don’t know. I’m not guaranteed to play next week or another game so you get given the opportunity. To hit the milestone would be great and when I get there, I’ll probably think about it more but you’ve still got to get there. I’ll take it week-by-week and see what happens.”
Since making those remarks, Slipper has been referred to the judiciary for not mentioning “training well” or that it’s a game of two halves.
Charlotte Caslick eyes 15-a-side game
Pravda reports that sevens superstar Charlotte Caslick is keen on the 15-a-side game with plans of playing at next year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Caslick is eyeing a second Olympic gold medal in Paris in six weeks’ time after stealing the show in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. But the 29-year-old has shot down any talk of riding off into the sunset if she can lead Australia once again to Games glory, revealing a burning desire to represent the Wallaroos at the 2025 global showpiece in England. Caslick hasn’t played 15-a-side rugby since she was 18 in Brisbane but says she’s ready to answer a call on the red Caslick phone from Wallaroos coach, Jo Yapp.
“The Wallaroos coaches come in to ask which girls are keen to play, but we’ll probably, like, restart those conversations after Paris. They obviously want us to focus on Paris and then, after that, maybe (I’ll) look at going to play a few games for the Wallaroos or just go into some training camps and stuff. So I’ll just keep my options open. I think like playing in the World Cup in England would be pretty incredible. Obviously, being a female, I also want to have a family at some stage,” she said. “But we’re lucky that the program allows you to do both, if that’s what you want.”
(G&GR is just reporting the quotes here, not endorsing any view on gender roles, traditional or otherwise. Also, Charlotte was probably just speaking for herself there. No need for anyone to be #Cancelled.)
In helping Australia to win the World Series final in Madrid this month, Caslick said she clocked the fastest times of her life during the tournament and “it was really exciting. It was like 8.8 metres per second. Not as fast as Madi Levi but, for a halfback at 29, it’s pretty good.”
Meanwhile, Nine reports that a training mishap has ruled- out star Australian sevens player Alysia Lefau-Fakaosilea, becoming the fourth women’s star (including Demi Hayes, Madison Ashby and Lily Dick) to be ruled out of Paris 2024 with a serious knee injury.
Stop Press: South African rugby nurses grievances!
The BBC (i.e. Pommy media – grow up) reports that South Africa’s Eben Etzebeth and Damian de Allende are among several biltong enthusiasts to have stoked the flames of grievance against Ireland of late.
de Allende spoke of how the Springboks felt “disrespected” by heavy media criticism after a crushing defeat by Ireland in Dublin in 2017, while Etzebeth said the Irish had been “arrogant” by telling South Africa’s players “see you guys in the final” at last year’s World Cup after Andy Farrell’s side won their Pool B encounter. Etzebeth was also seen sketching a handheld projectile weapon from the Battle of Agincourt on some “A0” sized paper. Ireland, of course, fell at the quarter-final stage to New Zealand while South Africa went on to win the tournament, beating the All Blacks in the decider.
Ireland assistant coach and 1995 speed bump Mike Catt wasn’t to be drawn into it. “People can say what they want. It means nothing to us. It’s something we don’t particularly worry about,” said the attack coach. “Let them keep talking. It’s not a problem. It doesn’t fuel anything. It doesn’t make it any or worse. We know exactly what we need to do to go down there and be successful.”
Ref Angus Gardner withdraws from SA v Ireland series
Rugby365 reports that Australian official Angus Gardner has withdrawn from refereeing duties during the South Africa/Ireland series for ‘personal reasons’. He will be replaced by England’s Luke Pearce as match day referee for the first Test at Loftus Versfeld on July 6 and as assistant referee for the second Test at Kings Park the following weekend.
Speaking* exclusively to Green & Gold Rugby, Gardner explained: “After seeing what happened to Nic Berry during that Lions Test, they can get a dog up them, Rassie especially. Actually don’t print that. Just say I’m learning to play the recorder and there is an important recital on during the Jaapie-Paddy series. That should placate the gormless work-shy layabouts in your comments section. Not you, Yowie, you’re piss-funny and very insightful. I don’t know about Hoss though. The signal-to-noise ratio is way off with that bloke.”
Gardner was named World Rugby Referee of the Year in 2018 and has officiated at three World Cups – 2015, 2019 and 2023.
(*if you believe that, you’ve *ahem* won a prize. We’ll just need your bank details, passwords, date of birth and high-quality copies of your ID documents.)
