Tuesday’s Rugby News has the latest Wallaroos squad announced, bad news about Super ratings in South Africa, another Aussie coming back home to boost the Super stocks, and Tatafu Polota-Nau gunning for the full 10 points on offer.
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Wallaroos Squad Announced
The squad for the Wallaroos, the Australian women’s rugby union team, has been announced in anticipation for their two-match series in New Zealand to be held in October.
The squad, currently at 35, is to be trimmed down by coach Paul Verrell to 26. Talking to rugby.com.au, Verrell said “I’m expecting the level of intensity at the camp to be intense with the stakes so high. This is a huge year for Women’s XVs Rugby – we have an important tour to New Zealand coming up in a matter of months as well as the Women’s Rugby World Cup [held in Ireland in a year’s time] on the horizon.”
After the training camp raps up in August, the Wallaroos plan to play Auckland in a trial match on 18 October at Eden Park, before facing the New Zealand women at the same venue on 22 and 26 October.
Wallaroos Squad: Alexandra Bannon, Millie Boyle, Louise Burrows, Chloe Butler, Emily Chancellor, Rebecca Clough, Mollie Gray, Alisha Hewett, Ivy Kaleta, Ariana Kaiwai, Victoria Latu, Penelope Leiataua, Hana Ngaha, Georgia O’Neill, Alana Patison, Liz Patu, Emily Robinson, Brooke Saunders, Oneata Schawalger, Kirby Sefo, Alexandra Sulusi, Venisia Taufa, Violeta Tupuola, Katrina Barker, Iliseva Batibasaga, Cheyenne Campbell, Kasey Dragisic, Ash Hewson, Chloe Leaupepe, Nareta Marsters, Cobie-Jane Morgan, Madeline Putz, Sarah Riordan, Hanna Sio, Shontelle Stowers.
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TPN: Chasing Bonus Points
Waratahs and Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, speaking to the SMH, has revealed that the Waratahs are unsurprisingly gunning for the “full 10 points” – or two wins and two bonus points – from their upcoming games against the Hurricanes and the Blues, the last two of the season.
“We come in with a goal of getting the full five points but at the end of the day if it doesn’t pan out then so be it and we just have to make sure that we can follow that up the week after against the Blues,” said the hooker.
Interestingly, in the same article, it’s revealed that TPN can speak Japanese, and enjoyed his time sampling the local delights during the Waratahs tour of Tokyo. Since Benn Robinson’s unfortunate early retirement, the Wallaby hooker has taken over tour guide and mentoring duties in the squad, and in Tokyo showed the younger members of the squad the best of Japan:”[I] had to show a few of the boys what to try because you have your sushi and sashimi but there’s more delicacies that they have over there”.
Robinson’s retirement has also spurned TPN to play better. “I try and prepare as if it’s my last game because with the hurtful memory of a great teammate of mine in Benn Robinson, you never know when it can end,” Polota-Nau said. “We made our debut together, it’s a shame we can’t see the whole season through.”
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Meakes Leaving Gloucester
Former sevens and U20 representative Bill Meakes has been released from his contract at Gloucester, with an eye to playing Super rugby.
Meakes’ destination hasn’t been revealed just yet, but it is thought that the Force are leading the race to bring the centre back home. The West Australian reports that he will be a replacement for Junior Rasolea, who’s leaving Perth to go play for Edinburgh.
Previously at Randwick, Gloucester was Meakes’ first professional contract. In two years, he earned 36 caps and scored 7 tries.
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SA Ratings Not So Super
Television ratings and attendance figures are “dwindling at an alarming rate”, according to South Africa’s Sport24, who are taking the figures from Afrikaans newspaper Rapport.
While ratings have decreased in Australia and NZ as well, the fall has been more drastic in South Africa. There’s been 3,8 million less viewers in South Africa than there was at the same stage of the comp, four years ago.
In addition, only the Stormers (who have an average of just under 27,000) have been able to consistently fill more than 50% of their home games. Unsurprisingly, the Kings have the worst attendance figures , bringing in on average only around 7,000 fans per game (or 15% of capacity).
An anonymous rugby suit is quoted by Sport24, saying that “the struggling economy, several top players plying their trade overseas and the transformation issue” as all playing their part in the poor figures.
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