Friday’s top rugby news has Mogg’s sacrifice, Giteau open to a return, the Brumbies preperation and the All Blacks getting to grips with the new scrum laws.
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Sacrifice pays dividends for Mogg
It has been a meteoric rise for Jesse Mogg over the last couple of years. In 2011 Mogg was playing club rugby for Wests in Canberra and at the invitation of Jake White, training with the Brumbies. Struggling with injury, White told Mogg that he should sit out the grand final for Wests to give himself a better chance of scoring a Brumbies contract. Reflecting on the choice, Mogg said ‘I had to make a sacrifice for that, but it’s worth it now. It was tough … it was a chance I had to take, and I owe a lot to Jake.’
It is easy to look back and say the decision was a no-brainer for Mogg. But to give away the chance to win a title with his mates was a big call and one that thankfully for Mogg has turned out to be a great one.
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Giteau open to Super return
Matt Giteau is pretty happy doing his thing in France, but that doesn’t mean he has ruled out the possibility of returning to Super Rugby. The major carrot for a return would be the opportunity to push for Wallabies selection ahead of the 2015 World Cup, and perhaps write a happier end to his international career compared to his 2011 exit.
Surprisingly, given the bravado of many professional sportspeople, Giteau happily admits doubts that he still has the ability to compete at the level required. ‘You’d never knock back the chance to play for your country … you have those doubts about whether you still are good enough to play top level rugby like that.’ Would you guys like to see Giteau return home? Do you think any of the Australian Super Rugby franchises would be particularly keen on signing him?
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Meticulous preparation aids Brumbies
There was not too much of a celebration from the Brumbies last weekend after their semi-final victory away to the Bulls. Coach Jake White and the rest of the Brumbies hierarchy had meticulously planned for this outcome. So immediately after the match, the Brumbies began the process of readjusting to the Australian time zone. That meant a quick feed, sleeping pills and bed.
Despite having travelled over 30,000km in the last month, the heavy travel workload does not seem to be impacting the Brumbies too badly on the field so far. Their thorough approach to preparation is largely responsible, as White put it ‘I think we’ve got to do everything in our power in terms of recovery, making sure we give ourselves a fair crack.’ Here’s hoping it works for one last game.
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All Blacks adjusting to new scrum laws
The All Blacks, aside from representatives from the Chiefs of course, are currently in camp preparing for the Rugby Championship. One focus for the Kiwis has been getting to grips with the new scrummaging laws that will be used in the tournament.
After the first session of training with the new laws, All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore was optimistic, saying ‘it is pretty exciting really, it will keep the scrum in games and keep building on things’. Hore believes that the new laws will make it harder for hookers to be able to strike the ball, but he also commented that it was the first scrummaging session for the All Blacks for a long time with no collapses. Hopefully that lack of collapsed scrums can transfer across to the upcoming Test matches as well.
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