Rebels 2012

[Army_Gav]

Word on the street is that John Muggleton has signed on to be the Rebels defence coach. Good signing and should hopefully tighten things up a bit next year!

Edit for link to yarn: http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8295864

He's on board. Got the press release this morning:

MEDIA RELEASE

Muggleton joins Rebels

The RaboDirect Rebels are pleased to announce that John Muggleton will join the club as an Assistant Coach for the 2012 Super Rugby season.

Muggleton will link up with the Rebels after he completes his coaching commitments with Georgia at the upcoming Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

The former Kangaroos rugby league international will work with new Head Coach Damien Hill, with a specific focus on defence.

Muggleton was the Wallabies defence coach under Rod Macqueen in Australia’s successful 1999 World Cup campaign in which the side conceded only one try throughout the tournament.

He continued this role with the Wallabies under Eddie Jones in 2003 and John Connelly in 2007.

RaboDirect Rebels Head Coach Damien Hill said today that the appointment of Muggleton was a coup for the club as it prepares for its second season in Super Rugby.

“John is a highly regarded coach with real expertise in the area of defence. He brings with him a wealth of experience and I am thrilled that he has decided to join the RaboDirect Rebels,” Hill said

 

[SuperGrover]

Word on the street is that John Muggleton has signed on to be the Rebels defence coach. Good signing and should hopefully tighten things up a bit next year!

Great news, and an astute signing. It was widely believed that a super rugby team in a city with the population and resources of Melbourne would eventually be an success (at least in terms of the Aus conference), but the strength of signings on and off the field leads me to believe that it will happen faster then I thought. Bodes well for Vic rugby.

 

[Lee Grant]

Looks good, feels good, smells good. Better defence is obviously what the Rebels need and there is nobody better than Muggleton to implement it, but are the Rebels players coachable in that discipline of the game?

One of the negatives of a new team is that you don't know how coachable the players are. In a mature team that has had several rounds of contract renewals the players who have not responded well in efforts to improve them have been weeded out. If after that time such a team has had some modest success, players who have hitherto been reluctant to go there will be putting their hands up and inertia is overcome.

Melbourne is early in that cycle and we should not expect too much too soon, but the hiring of the Muggle may see some defensive magic sooner than we think.

 

[TOCC]

any kind of defensive structure would be better then what they had in 2011

smart signing

 

[Crow]

Big fan of Muggleton, but likewise unhappy that he's left the 'tahs.
Not happy with taking the fullback, you're taking the coach too? bah.

 

[Melbourne Terrace]

lol not happy with having the largest junior system in the country?

 

[tranquility]

Wouldn't the mooted signing of Haskell be a ripper!

 

[SuperGrover]

Wouldn't the mooted signing of Haskell be a ripper!

I agree whole-heartedly!

I thought he had a good game against the Pumas yesterday, and would definitely add a much needed line-out option for the Rebels.

Having said that, I thought the Saffy, Delve, Lipman backrow was one of the few highlights last season for the Rebels, and I thought Luke Jones was being developed as a No. 6 option... but these are dilemma's worth having for the opportunity to sign Haskell

 

[tranquility]

Haskell is currently better than all of those players I would have thought..

 

[Burke's Boot]

Muggo the Mungo signs on then and straight away is their best signing yet. The only area where the Wallabies have got worse in during Deans' reign is defence and thats because Muggleton left.

 

[SuperGrover]

Haskell is currently better than all of those players I would have thought..

Perhaps... but Delve was inspirational this season and is Vice-Captain, so I can't see him being moved from No.8. While I thought Haskell played very well against Argentina and in the 6 Nations this year, I don't think he is an out-and-out No.7 and I'd prefer Lipman (or Saffy if he keeps improving). So that leaves 6... and I'll be more than happy if they play him there, but a little disappointed if he appears elsewhere.

 

[blues recovery]

Perhaps... but Delve was inspirational this season and is Vice-Captain, so I can't see him being moved from No.8. While I thought Haskell played very well against Argentina and in the 6 Nations this year, I don't think he is an out-and-out No.7 and I'd prefer Lipman (or Saffy if he keeps improving). So that leaves 6... and I'll be more than happy if they play him there, but a little disappointed if he appears elsewhere.

Look for haskell at 6

 

[Lee Grant]

Haskell is not a 7 at all as we know them. Sure he is playing there now for England with Moody injured, and was during 6N, ditto, but he's really a 6 with a 7 on his back. During 6N he even swapped sides of the scrum with Wood sometimes, as England are not big on "fetchers". Moody is not really a fetcher 7 either. Apart from some one offs, like Hendre Fourie who got a test last year, England probably hasn't had a specialist fetcher since Lipman, though I have probably have forgotten some folks.

Like Oz, England only took only one openside flanker to the RWC and it's a comment of the change in the role over the years, and particularly since the law crackdown at the beginning of 2010. There has been precedent for England's stance on the matter: the South Africans hardly had a fetcher between Krige and Brussouw.

But I digress. Haskell? Good player who nearly always has played 6, but he had trouble starting in test matches when 7. Moody and 6, Croft were both healthy for England. Since Moody has been incapacitated in 2011 he has shown what he can do. He will be terrific at the Super level but the Rebels have to phase out foreigners don't they, not hire new ones?
.

 

[James Buchanan]

But I digress. Haskell? Good player who nearly always has played 6, but he had trouble starting in test matches when 7. Moody and 6, Croft were both healthy for England. Since Moody has been incapacitated in 2011 he has shown what he can do. He will be terrific at the Super level but the Rebels have to phase out foreigners don't they, not hire new ones?

They only ever hired 8 of the 10 foreigners they were allotted. That was going to drop to 8 this year, but they've lost both Yoda and Kevin O'Neill iirc.

So they should have room for another international signing.

 

[Nusadan]

Haskell's signed with the Japanese Ricoh rugby team, linked article says he is wanting to do a Super 15 season straight afterwards:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ru...join-Japanese-Ricoh-Black-Rams-World-Cup.html

 

[fatprop]

Rebels don't need another backrower, now a decent TH lock or THP - sure

 

[qwerty51]

If he's playing in Japan, surely no Super team would pick him up?

 

[Bowside]

The japanese season ends early in the super rugby season. Would be a good signing for the rebels at 6, saffy can play 7 and delve 8. Decent backrow.

 

[Lee Grant]

They only ever hired 8 of the 10 foreigners they were allotted. That was going to drop to 8 this year, but they've lost both Yoda and Kevin O'Neill iirc.

So they should have room for another international signing.

I think I remember that now; so I guess that a 1 year contract wouldn't be here nor there, but if it's for 2 years one has to think of what the foreigner numbers will be for 2013. Anybody remember what the schedule was for phasing foreigners out - how may allowed for Yr 1 (10), Yr 2 (8), etc etc? Was it to drop by 2 every year?

 

[Eyes and Ears]

I think I remember that now; so I guess that a 1 year contract wouldn't be here nor there, but if it's for 2 years one has to think of what the foreigner numbers will be for 2013. Anybody remember what the schedule was for phasing foreigners out - how may allowed for Yr 1 (10), Yr 2 (8), etc etc? Was it to drop by 2 every year?

Yes, 2 each year