Wednesday’s rugby news has Bill Pulver saying the Brumbies are financially secure, Waratahs wanting a home win, Sean McMahon looking to improve and U20’s lose to New Zealand.
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Brumbies Secure
ARU CEO Bill Pulver says the Brumbies are financially secure following the payout of Michael Jones who left the club this week.
Pulver met with the Brumbies on Tuesday following Jones’ departure on Monday.
“They (Brumbies) have have just lost a CEO, so that leaves a little bit of hole, and we will support them wherever we can, but there is no urgent need for us to fill any gaps,” said Pulver.
“They are doing what they say they are doing (in turning the franchise’s finances around from consecutive annual losses) so it’s been a very encouraging day.
“The bigger issue that we at the Australian Rugby Union level are dealing with is one of financial sustainability at this level of competition.
“At that level, rugby league has the same challenge, AFL has the same challenge to a certain extent. I’m sure soccer does as well.
“We’re investing a lot of time with all of the franchises trying to find a financially sustainable model.”
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Tahs Want Home Win
Waratahs club captain Dave Dennis emphasised the importance of a home win following three straight home losses this season.
“We mentioned (during our review) that we’ve had two really good wins away but we haven’t performed at home,” Dennis said.
“It’s really important we come home and play well on Saturday night because we haven’t really played well here — so that’s a good motivator for the boys.
“I think the last two weeks we’ve taken a step up in terms of our performance.
“In those games that we dropped during the year here we were far from our best, and we’re still a bit off.
“So it’s a work in progress, but we’ve talked about working with the momentum that we’ve gained over the past two weeks and still really pushing ourselves.”
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McMahon Looking to Improve
Rebels flanker Sean McMahon admits he needs to be better over the ball in order to compete with the top backrowers in Australian rugby.
“I definitely think that’s (pilfering) a big area that I need to work on,” McMahon said.
“I probably pride myself on my ball carry and my defence around the tackle, but probably the thing that is missing in my game, that I’m trying to improve on every week and I’m practising at training, is probably that breakdown.
“The opportunity to, when I need to, pilfer or read the play and isolate over the top.”
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U20’s Go Down to NZ
The Australian U20’s side has gone down to New Zealand 10-30 at Bond University on the Gold Coast last night.
Head coach Adrian Thompson was disappointed with the performance.
“We got what we deserved tonight, that was unacceptable and we really need to turn around our attitude to playing these guys.
“Our execution wasn’t great but we’ve been together for the same time as the Kiwis and they made a lot of mistakes too but at the end of the day they covered theirs up well and we didn’t do it well enough.
“There is only one and half training days left this week but that’s what these guys have to get used to if they want to be selected for the World Championships.
“I’ve told them that and they are going to have to come back a lot better on Saturday if they want to get selected.”
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