Search results

No injury, I imagine it's more about what they want out of their props at different stages of the game. There's not a huge difference in how many minutes they'll play, starting or on the bench.

I don't love it, particularly from an Australian rugby perspective - I'm not sure having Cheika passed over for the wallabies job coming in to sit below the new coach in the overall Australian structure is a recipe for unity. From a QLD perspective he'd be a good coach, but I don't know if he'd...

Sounds like the Lancaster rumour is more as a member of the coaching staff than as the head coach. A team with Les Kiss head coach, Lancaster in an assistant role and Schmidt as a consultant/assistant is starting to sound pretty experienced and promising.

I think I'd be a lot more comfortable with this change if Campbell was back starting. He's been a key player in our previous victories over the chiefs and offers a lot of the control at the back that helped us get their.

Interested in seeing how the scrum battle goes here. Both front rows have had their arses handed to them recently, could be a good chance for one of them to build back a bit of confidence. Will be particularly good for the Force if the can get ascendancy there to go with the strength of their...

Not listed as injured, it looks a lot like Creighton is just the preferred candidate for right now. Maybe it'll change when Gordon makes his way back, but I think they'll also need to have built a bit more of the base structure and fluency in attack before they can get much out of Edmed.

No, you'll just ruin him and he's been onto a good thing lately.

Blyth also out of the 23.

If Lynagh is out I hope he does, we don't want to be relying on Werchon as the backup. I guess it's a question of where the coaches think he's at. Campbell is the other potential 10 cover, he did play there last year against Tonga when O'Connor was concussed.

Yeah, Christy's speculation doesn't really help things, though I get the impression that he was told the "max 6 weeks" thing at the start of the season and is now also scrambling for detail on what's actually happening. On the Daugunu front, I get the impression he's getting an exemption with...

Christy implies it's Wallabies rest, but it also sounds like Les Kiss is well onboard with it (not at all surprising for the likely incoming wallabies coach). https://www.theroar.com.au/2025/04/01/reds-to-welcome-back-wallabies-stars-but-aussie-teams-juggling-super-ambitions-with-ra-wishes/

It was bad enough when it seemed like there was just a pre-ordained, "no more than 6 in a row" rest policy for the broader Wallabies group (whoever that may include). Having it chop and change like this is impossible to follow as a fan. I get the player welfare aspect of it but to have it...

Hamilton

I don't think you can ever really get away with lowering a salary cap, the players would revolt and you'd lose all control of your talent. The RFU would probably even try and step in to block it, given they maintain a local selection policy. Best they can probably do is pause it for ~5 years in...

Reds are using Faessler on the social media promo posts for the Chiefs match, hopefully a good sign that he's back for this one.

Probably also worth getting into the other sticking points with this raised in the roar article - change in schedule, and no beer: https://www.theroar.com.au/2025/04/01/a-rugby-world-cup-without-beer-gulf-states-aim-to-co-host-in-2035-great-for-the-WR (World Rugby)-coffers-but-what-about-fans/ Compensation...

Artificial, and massively inflationary - you're going to pay overs for every one of these players and that will have big flow on effects in the market as a whole. That might be acceptable if there was a solid chance that it would establish an ongoing professional competition that would produce...

It's definitely in the same vein, but it's much more artificial without an established comp to support them, and only a small fraction of those ever get capped for either side (especially France). What we're talking about here would be almost complete builds of 3 international teams, with little...

Yeah, that'd rankle enough if one was doing it, but if it's all 3 at once there will be uproar. I don't think the player market is anywhere near large enough to support it, it's nothing near what soccer has and you need a lot more players to build out squads/comps. Would probably even piss the...

I don't know if it's even possible if one of them has to be a participant - I guess UAE could push into a competitive space over the next decade, but there's a fair way to go from 48th, even with an expanded world cup. As I understand it, it's largely an expat team too, and any improvement is...