Yep, surprise surprise! It isn’t the local yokel from the Hunter, it is instead his erudite and erstwhile Queensland third cousin, Brisneyland Local. Hoss is away getting his chakras and feng shui lined up at a Byron Bay yoga and wellness retreat run by the famous guru, Bussell Rand.
Hoss texted me an update: “I can still fit into my Lorna Janes, although the spandex is stretched pretty thin now. One of the yoga women said I look like the fat dad in The Incredibles. My activewear isn’t even red f*ckhead! But yeah it’s mainly women here as you might expect. They seem to be digging my vibe because they’re giggling at me a lot. Sometimes I haven’t even cracked any jokes.”
Corey Toole re-signs with the Ponies
As mentioned at Pravda here. The Puppy Killers have locked in Corey Toole on a one-year extension. The former Sevens speedster has been one of the Pony’s better players dotting down 17 tries in 27 matches. The 24-year-old has been a training member of the Wallabies squad throughout the Rugby Championship as he edges closer and closer to his green and gold debut.
“It’s been a massive year for sure, but returning to the Brumbies has always been on my mind,” said Toole. “The club has made me feel at home since joining and I’m keen to keep working on my game here in Canberra. Both as a club and individually I feel there has been an improvement over the past two years, now that the next step is hopefully a Super Rugby title.”
Saint Joe stated last week that a test debut is a matter of when, not if, for Turbo Toole. “Corey’s opportunity will come. I had a great meeting with Corey yesterday talking through his game and he’s got a few priorities that he’s working on,” Schmidt said before the second Bledisloe Test. “…Corey hasn’t really had that much experience. He’s come from the Sevens program and had a season with the Brumbies so he’s still learning the 15s game even positionally.”
“We’re trying to fast track and he’s very fast so hopefully that will get eaten up quite quickly. Corey’s rapid rise in the game is extremely well deserved and is a credit to the work he puts in each day,” Larkham added. “We are very excited to have extended Corey’s time in the ACT and I have no doubt he will be a strong contributor to further success at the Brumbies in 2025.”
I for one can’t wait to see Corey get his first run in the green and gold and I reckon the northern tour
All Blacks ‘livid’ over French move that ‘devalues mega series’ by standing down stars from 2025 NZ tour
As mentioned at the Shouty site here, France has confirmed they’ll take a B+ squad to play the All Blacks in En Zud next year. An agreement between the French national union and the country’s top clubs was announced on Wednesday which will see players from the Top 14 final teams excused from the tour to New Zealand.
The final in 2024 was between Toulouse and Bordeaux. Therefore three of France’s first-choice backs – Antoine Dupont, Romain Ntamack, and Thomas Ramos will all be rested. The Kiwis officials are reported to be ‘totally pussed off’ at the decision, and think that the Froggy bastards should go get ‘munted’.
Although not good, it is far better than the initial proposal from Fabian Galthie, which involved resting 20 of the key 23 French Players. “Players will benefit from four mandatory weeks off and four weeks without matches,” said Galthie. “We built on trust while adjusting the management of the international season by choosing to rest our ‘premium’ during the summer tours,” Galthie said.
“It was a first step. We want to go even further which will mean that we will go on tour in the summer of 2025 in New Zealand without our ‘premium’ players. It’s been like this for four years. Why change strategy? Because we’re travelling to the All Blacks? You have to be consistent.”
On Wednesday, the French union described the 2025 and 2026 mid-year internationals as “part of a preparation cycle for the 2027 World Cup with an approach focused on managing the most in-demand players and on the gradual construction of the squad.
“An initial group of 42 players will be formed in two stages. In the first stage, 28 available players will be selected after the TOP 14 play-offs (mid-June) to prepare for the first France Développement match on the weekend of the TOP 14 semi-finals. “This group will then be completed by players from the clubs that lost in the semi-finals, in order to reach a total of 42 players. The finalists of the TOP 14 will not be selected for these international periods.”
The statement also flagged a potential midweek match against a tier 2 nation during the 2025 tour.
“During the July 2025 Tour, the Test matches may be supplemented by a France Development match during the week, thus making it possible to strengthen the experience of emerging players and to organise a match against a nation that is not one of the major countries in world rugby.”
It’d be safe to assume NZ Rugby will be looking at a potential loss of revenue from facing a dilapidated Cheese Eating Surrender Monkey team. I know I’d be pissed off.
Friday’s Whiz with Bris
Although the boys aren’t playing this weekend, or for a few more weeks, there’s plenty of rugger on. Here’re some games:
1. Friday 4 Oct 1600 AEST – NZ NPC – Northland v Otago.
2. Friday 4 Oct 2350 AEST – WXV – Italy v Wales.
3. Saturday 5 Oct 0440 AEST – Premiership Rugby – Northampton v Harlequins.
4. Saturday 5 Oct 0440 AEST – Premiership Rugby – Sale v Gloucester.
5. Saturday 5 Oct 2150 AEST- WXV – Japan v Scotland.
6. Sunday 6 Oct 0050 AEDST – WXV – South Africa v Australia.
Monsieur Ass Clown
As Happyman reported here, the lunatic that was once the Wallabies coach has got himself into trouble yet again. Is anyone surprised by this? I for one wasn’t. For an individual with the IQ that he has and the length of time in the professional game that he’s had, you think he’d learn when to keep his yap shut. He may well be right on what he was bleating about, but one thing I learned in the army is, being right is not a bulletproof vest.
There’re some people in the rugby landscape who are pushing for Cheika to return to Australian rugby when St Joe finishes as the Wallabies coach. If there’s anything that we can take away from the Dr. Evil experience it is, don’t marry your ex-wife! She’s your ex for a reason.
Anyway, enough of this old man dribbling crap. Over to you G&GRs. Have at it.
