Friday’s Rugby news has Lealiifano ruled out, the Force and the Rebels coming together, and all gossip about the final All Blacks-Lions test (squads included, of course).
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Lealiifano ruled out
Of all the news pieces that grinds my gears the most this week, this was it. After close to a year of battling leukaemia and overcoming it, Christian Lealiifano has been ruled out of his long anticipated comeback for the Brumbies due to a hamstring strain.
Lealiifano had been starting to regain his form of old, and certainly showed it after coming on the field for the Brumbies in Singapore. However, forty minutes out from the team annoucement on Wednesday, Lealiifano felt his hamstring strain. The Brumbies managed to send him in for scans, and considered taking him up to Brisbane and doing a fitness test yesterday, but in the end coach Stephen Larkham decided it “wasn’t worth the risk.”
So late was the pullout, that Christian will actually have family and friends at the game because it was too late for them to change their travel plans. While it is very possible Lealiifano won’t be returning when the Brums face the Chiefs in the final game of the regular season next week in Hamilton, Larkham is keen to have him ready for the quarter final playoff in Canberra.
“We’ll see how he pulls up. If he doesn’t loosen up, then maybe [he won’t play against the Chiefs],” Larkham told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“He felt his hamstring tighten up. It’s just not worth risking at this stage.
“We’ll make a decision [on Lealiifano playing], down the track. But if his body is right and his mind is right, he’ll be available for selection.”
Ben Alexander said that while the result was devastating for his teammate, his entire ordeal over the last few months had really put things in perspective for the entire team.
“It’s a little bit disappointing but you’ve just got to look at the bigger picture,” Alexander said.
“[Lealiifano] is healthy, in remission and [a hamstring injury] is all irrelevant really. He’s fit and healthy, that’s all that matters.
“It will be awesome when he gets back on the field. But you’ve just got to look at the bigger picture of what he’s facing and this is just a very minor obstacle for what he’s faced.”
Alexander passes George Smith‘s record 142 matches this weekend for the Brumbies, making up a powerful bench. Another notable return is Argentine international Tomas Cubelli, who will play his first game of the season this weekend after a season of injury.
“I used him [Lealiifano] as an inspiration during the injury, it made me feel like my injury was an easy thing to go [through],” Cubelli said.
“I think [Lealiifano] went through more difficult things so he will sort out [this hamstring injury] but the team will have him when we need him.”
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When times are tough, have a tinny
It’s been a shit house year for both the Melbourne Rebels and the Western Force so far, and the fact that one of them may not exist at the end of this year led to many thinking that the game on Friday at the Force Field will be one full of spite.
However, the Force will invite the Rebels players to join them for a beer after the derby match on Friday night. In a move that has really shown the true spirit of both clubs, players from both clubs have really portrayed a sense of unity this week in the lead up to the match.
Force coach Dave Wessels has made it clear that he’s keen for his players to chat to the Rebels boys about the tough situation they all find themselves in.
“I guess we’d probably like to have a beer with them after the game and just talk about how they’re feeling, and vice-versa,” Wessels said.
“No one really knows what’s going to happen from here. We’re all caught in limbo.
“In a lot of ways, we sympathise with where the Rebels are at off field.
“They’re going through a lot of the things we’re going through.”
Club legend Matty Hodgson, who is also a director of the Rugby Union Players’ Association, has been heavily campaigning to retain five rugby teams. The fixture tonight will be the last ever clash between the two sides, should a loss of a team come to pass.
“We certainly don’t see it as an us versus them scenario. In a lot of ways, we see it as us and them versus everybody else,” Wessels said.
“I think both teams will just be pleased to be able to express ourselves on the field.
“Ultimately we do this job because we love rugby, and that’s what we’re going to be able to do tomorrow night.”
Personally, I’m with Hodgo on this one. This whole situation bloody sucks.
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Win or Lose, Gatland wins
In an interesting article put out by Paul Rees at the Guardian, Rees put forward the notion that regardless of the result on Saturday night at Eden Park, this Lions series has silenced many critics of Warren Gatland‘s methods of rugby, and will do much to enhance his reputation.
“Some in the New Zealand media were quick to write off Gatland as a failure, despite his success with Wasps, Waikato and Wales, after the British & Irish Lions made a juddering start to the tour,” Rees wrote.
“Clowntime is over. Whatever the result on Saturday, Warren Gatland will finish the series against New Zealand with his coaching reputation encased in cement a month after an aside he made at the end of a media conference at which his methods had been questioned, which cursed the need for him to keep defending himself, was picked up on tape recorders and printed.”
I myself find the notion that Gatland himself will be judged more on the result of the series more than anything, but there is no denying that before the start of it, many had written off the Lions and had presented the idea of a whitewash series result.
Then Wellington happened.
However, Rees presented an idea that Gatland has always, in some way, been an underdog.
“The success Gatland has achieved as a coach is notable because he has been in charge of teams who are not frontline or fashionable: Connacht, Ireland, Wasps, Waikato and Wales, clubs and countries that lacked the resources of their rivals. He has always made the most of what he has had and it is easy to forget now just how mired in mediocrity Wales had become before he took over following an early exit in the 2007 World Cup.”
While Gatland has been more focused on the Lions than Wales in recent months, there is no denying that he himself has been behind the restoration of the Lions reputation. Before the 2013 Australia series, Gatland took over a Lions squad that hadn’t won a series since 1997. The entire reason the Lions reputation has grown has been off the back of his success as the head coach.
That, to Rees is the major win for Gatland, regardless of he result of Saturday night.
“Not bad for someone who is perceived to be tied to smash and drab. The scorn and mockery that greeted him on his arrival in his homeland has been replaced with apprehension as the Lions, having largely stopped New Zealand from playing without inhibition, stand on the threshold of only their second series victory in the country.
“He knows there is more than one route to the top but having got there so often why is he so underestimated?”
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Squads In For The Decider
Yep, it’s that time again. The squads for the Lions and the All Blacks have been announced, and there’s been some interesting choices by both sides.
Starting with the hosts, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has called up Jordie Barrett for his first test start, having him at fullback. He will be joined by Ngani Laumape in his first start, and Julian Savea will be earning a recall after not even being included in the squad last week. Israel Dagg moves to the other wing.
Hansen has kept the same forward pack and bench as the second test, and is hoping the final test “is going to be a cracker.”
“It now comes down to this Saturday — the winner takes all — and that’ll create its own unique pressures and it’s going to be interesting to see how both sides cope with it.
“We’ve had a good week of preparation and are very excited by the opportunity that’s ahead of us, and I’m sure the Lions are as well.
“We know it’ll be a physical and intense match, but just as importantly, it’ll be a game where both teams will have moments of momentum, and the ability of everyone to adapt and adjust throughout the 80 minutes will be crucial.”
Kieran Read will also become the seventh All Black to pass 100 test caps this weekend.
Meanwhile, over at Lions HQ, Warren Gatland has rewarded the team who won him the second test in Wellington with an unchanged side.
The same 23-man group is the first time a Lions squad has remained unchanged since 1993. While many may see this as a potential sign of complacency, Gatland believes that this squad has the potential to step up a gear and play even better.
“We felt we should reward the players for the result and the courage that they showed in coming from behind,” Gatland said.
“There are some players who are pretty disappointed not to be selected and I understand that.
“It is what you would expect from competitive top athletes, they back themselves.
The last time the Lions were victorious in New Zealand, it was two years after the moon landing. Gatland makes no illusion that the players know what they are up against here.
“We are all aware of how big this game is and we are expecting a backlash from the All Blacks,” Gatland said.
“But this is a huge chance for this group of players to show their abilities and reap the benefits of the work everyone has put in.
“It is their chance to make Lions history.”
These be exciting times! How annoying that we will have to wait another four years for it to come around after Saturday night.
All Blacks squad:
Joe Moody, Codie Taylor, Owen Franks, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Sam Cane, Kieran Read (c), Aaron Smith, Beauden Barrett, Julian Savea, Ngani Laumape, Anton Lienert-Brown, Israel Dagg, Jordie Barrett
Reserves: Nathan Harris, Wyatt Crockett, Charlie Faumuina, Scott Barrett, Ardie Savea, TJ Perenara, Aaron Cruden, Malakai Fekitoa
British & Irish Lions squad:
Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Tadhg Furlong, Maro Itoje, Alun Wyn Jones, Sam Warburton (c), Sean O’Brien, Toby Taletau, Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton, Elliot Daly, Owen Farrell, Jonathan Davies, Anthony Watson, Liam Williams.
Reserves: Ken Owens, Jack McGrath, Kyle Sinckler, Courtney Lawes, CJ Stander, Rhys Webb, Ben Teo, Jack Nowell
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