Friday’s rugby news has Stirling Mortlock calling for Samu Keveri to be the Wallabies outside centre, the Brumbies appoint a new CEO, more Super Rugby expansion and five Hurricanes players stood down.
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Kerevi for 13
Former Wallaby outside centre Stirling Mortlock has called for Samu Kerevi to start at 13 for the Wallabies.
“I’ve been really impressed with Samu’s work ethic and ability to dent the (defensive) line,” Mortlock said.
“If you look at his stats, his ball carries are up there with the most in Super Rugby, he’s also high on offloads and metres gained.
“He’s everything you want in a 13 — a really physically dominant centre who gets a lot of touches on the ball — and he’s been a standout in a team that’s underperforming. That’s even more difficult to do.
“I wish him well in his recovery and I really hope he gets a crack.”
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Brumbies Appoint New CEO
Phil Thomson has been appointed as the interim CEO of the Brumbies following the departure of Michael Jones.
Thomson is the ARU’s current integrity manager but insists the appointment does not mark the start of an ARU takeover.
“It’s pretty obvious that there’s a lot of tension out there and there’s a lot of bridges that probably have to be rebuilt,” Thomson said.
“It’s been a tough time for the organisation off the field and no-one likes to see the organisation dragged through this sort of process.
“So we need to look at just getting back to the values of the organisation — there’s a lot of good quality people here — and just putting everything in place to make sure they can deliver what they have to.”
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More SR Expansion
New Zealand Rugby Chief Executive Steve Tew believes further expansion of Super Rugby is inevitable.
The current Super Rugby format consisting of 18 teams has been criticised for being too complicated and difficult to follow.
“If we want to play professional rugby, we can’t just play ourselves — we will go out of business very quickly,” he said.
“When we go to the next set of broadcasting deals we’ve got to be sure we’ve got a footprint in South America, that we’ve got a footprint in Asia, and possibly other markets or we will go bust, because we continue to compete against the clubs up here.”
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Canes Stand Down Players
Hurricanes coach Chris Boyd has stood down five players including three All Blacks who will not take part against this weekend’s match against the Reds.
Julian and Ardie Savea, Cory Jane, Victor Vito and reserve prop Chris Eves were not considered for selection after breaking the team’s curfew in their recent trip to South Africa.
“This is a 1/10 offence with a 10/10 punishment, but a protocol is a protocol,” said coach Chris Boyd.
“At the end of the day, it was past where the stick was put in the sand.
“None of them are happy they made a poor error of judgment and none of them are happy they are not playing this weekend.”
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