Thursday’s top rugby news James O’Connor’s unhappy week, Gatland on the unity of Australian rugby, Pulver on Jake White and the return of Richie McCaw.
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Not a happy week for O’Connor
James O’Connor is one of the most talented players in Australia, so it seems almost absurd that the Western Force are really the only side considering signing him for next year’s Super Rugby season. In further worrying news for O’Connor, Force player Ben McCalman has voiced concerns within the side about how O’Connor would fit in with the club’s culture. McCalman was quick to praise the youngster’s on-field talents before tempering that with the following assessment “we’ve worked very hard over the last year to set values and standards … we’d love to have him here, but not at the cost of compromising what we’ve already set up.”
O’Connor’s final game for the Rebels will not even see him in the starting side. Coach Damien Hill has benched O’Connor due to the lack of training he had been able to complete with the side.
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Gatland discusses unity
Relaxing at home in New Zealand after leading to the Lions to their series victory over the Wallabies, Lions coach Warren Gatland has had some quite interesting things to say about the state of the game in Australia. Whilst many questioned how the unity of the British and Irish Lions would hold up after Gatland selected 10 Welsh players in the starting side for the third test, the coach actually believes it was the opposition who had issues in that regard. “We felt there was no unity in Australian rugby between Super Rugby franchises … between the Australian Rugby Union, between media, public everything there seemed so divided.” Pretty strong claims.
Gatland covered a lot of other ground in the interview, including the unsurprising assertion that dropping Brian O’Driscoll for the final Lions test was the biggest decision of his career.
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McCaw to Return for Club
All Blacks’ skipper and 116 test veteran Richie McCaw is set to return to the field this weekend. However it will not be for the Crusaders in their Super Rugby clash with the Hurricanes. Instead, McCaw will find himself running out for his club side Christchurch RFC when they take on University at Christchurch Park.
The match will be McCaw’s first following a seven month sabbatical from the game. Whilst not playing this weekend, McCaw is still a chance to have some role in the Crusaders’ finals campaign and will obviously return to the All Blacks as they chase this year’s Rugby Championship title.
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Pulver Explains White Snub
After Jake White earlier this week claimed Ewen McKenzie was preferred over him for the Wallabies coaching gig because of a preference for an Aussie coach, ARU Chief Bill Pulver has acknowledged that was part of the reasoning behind the decision. Pulver explained that the powers that be thought the two coaches were very evenly matched in terms of quality. As such, according to Pulver, in that situation the decision was made to go for an Australian coach, or as Pulver put it someone with the “ability to coach the Australian way.”
The other thing that counted against White was the perceived defensive minded nature of his style. “I just think there has probably been a little bit more creativity inside Ewen’s programs” Pulver said before adding that he thought playing rugby in a way that captures the imagination of the public was an important factor going forward.
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