Monday’s rugby news has Scrum woes for Wallabies, players return for Wales, Hansen unhappy with big screens and Conrad Smith and Brodie Retallick ruled out.
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Scrum Woes Continue for Wallabies
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has said that the Wallabies must “learn to love scrums” after they were heavily penalised against Wales.
Cheika also said
“Sometimes they go good, sometimes they don’t. That’s for all teams. You’ve just got to do your best, enjoy it and get stuck into it.”
“I didn’t think we were dominated. I think we had one poor scrum in the middle of the field where we gave away a penalty, and we can’t afford to do that. We can’t afford to have one scrum off.”
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Players Return for Wales
After suffer their 10th straight loss in a row to Australia in which Leigh Halfpenny and Dan Biggar were both injured, there looks to be some good news for Wales in the lead up to their next few test matches.
After suffering a horror run of injuries, Wales are now expected to welcome back Jonathan Davies and Scott Williams into the centres which will push George North back out onto the wing.
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Hansen Unhappy with Big Screens
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has expressed some concern over the big screen replays after his side’s win over England. He believes that the continuous replays of footage on the big screen has trying to influence the referee.
“My biggest concern is not TMOs or referees — my biggest concern is that TV producers are starting to have an influence on the game,” Hansen said.
“We don’t need a TV producer to replay something 100 times — that’s not in the character or the spirit of the game.
“But TV producers, they are starting to annoy me somewhat.”
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Smith and Retallick Out
All Blacks Brodie Retallick and Conrad Smith have been ruled out of this weekend’s match against Scotland. Retallick has suffered a shoulder injury whilst Smith has returned to New Zealand to attend to a family matter.
“It’s not overly serious, but serious enough for him to have to go home,” Steve Hansen said. “Everyone’s healthy, which is great, but it’s a personal matter so we can’t answer any questions on it.”
Conrad Smith is expected to be available for their final test against Wales.
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