Friday’s Rugby News is named right today, and features Stephen Moore retiring, the Uni 7s launch, Toby Smith and Bill Meakes.
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No Moore
Wallabies captain Stephen Moore is going to hang up his Test boots at the end of this year.
A month after stating that he could make the 2019 World Cup, the 34-year-old hooker has told the meedja that it he has decided to give it up.
“I think you definitely go through that period where you do fight it. You think, ‘I’ll be fine, I’ll be able to do it’,” he said, via the SMH.
“I had some great encouragement from my teammates and my coaches but I just got that feeling, probably in the last month or so, that it was the right time.
“I think the commitment required to be the best and to be perform at the highest level is huge. I just didn’t think I could do that ongoing for another two years leading up to that World Cup.
“I think Cheik will want to have more or less his World Cup team in place by next year and we’ll have a good idea of what that team looks like.”
Moore isn’t retiring for good, as he’s planning to play for the Reds next year. Part of the reason he’s announced his retirement now is to end any chatter about his future.
“It clears the air a little bit, gets that speculation in the background and lets the team move forward and the focus should be squarely on the team,”said the 120-capped Wallaby.
“I didn’t want it to be about me or whether I could get through to this or that and I felt when I had a good think about it, I didn’t think I could.
“You could say the smart decision personally but also for the team, which at the end of the day, that’s my priority.”
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Uni 7s
The Aon Uni 7s was launched yesterday at Macquarie University, and its stars and the ARU can inspire the country.
The competition be in 4 rounds, with the 1st round taking place in roughly a month’s time. The final round will be on the last weekend of September.
8 universities will participate, with the universities Macquarie and New England (NSW), Bond, Griffith and UQ (Qld) joining Tasmania, Canberra and South Australia.
“It’s going to be a groundbreaking pathway for rugby Sevens,” said 7s superstar Emilee Cherry, (via rugby.com.au) who is repping the University of Queensland.
“It gives an opportunity for girls who may be wondering how they get into our squad, or how they get into the sport, it’s an excellent pathway all the universities have backed.”
Fellow 7s superstar Chloe Dalton, who will wearing Macquarie’s red and black echoes her teammate’s sentiments:
“It’s a massive step forward for creating the pathway, a lot of people have been wondering what the best way is to get into the Aussie sevens program,” Dalton said.
“I think it’s so great that it’s giving those girls an opportunity to not only play in the Uni 7s comp, but also the training programs that have been set up already, (the competition is) going to be a pretty good standard.
“It’s great for those girls who aren’t necessarily massive on rugby union to be able to play against Australia’s best.
“Whether they’re diehard rugby fans or whether they’ve never seen rugby before, it’s going to be awesome to have it on home soil, get people watching and hopefully get young girls involved.”
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Smithicane
Tony Smith’s long-rumoured move to the Hurricanes has been confirmed today, and that means you should expect Toby Smith become one of the world’s best props. In the same way that any player that moves to NZ from Australia becomes a billion times better.
“I’ll always be grateful for my time in Australia and I have really enjoyed playing for the Melbourne Rebels, but when the opportunity to play for the Hurricanes came up it was very appealing to me,” Smith said on the Hurricanes website.
“To play for a team with such a proud history and from everything I’ve heard a great culture, while also being closer to my young son is something I’m very excited about.
“I’m looking forward to moving to Wellington later in the year, meeting everyone, and getting stuck into pre-season training.”
Smith grew up in New Zealand but was eligible for the Wallabies as he was born in Townsville. He joined the Rebels in 2014, and made his international debut one year later.
Smith’s move to the Hurricanes means that the 33-cap prop is ineligible for the World Cup.
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Meakes Seeks
Bill Meakes can taste a Wallabies cap, and the Sydney-born Force bruiser can’t wait.
“This is where I wanted to get to but to actually get here was another thing,” Meakes said to rugby.com.au.
“Cheik actually spoke to me as as soon as I moved over [from England last year] and invited me to one of the camps earlier on, which was great to be a part of and a real eye-opener in terms of what it takes to get here.”
Not only does the chance of a Wallaby cap have Meakes stoked, but he also feels he’s grown a lot during his tough year at the Force.
“(Force coach) Dave Wessels put me into that (leadership) role straight away and it’s something I’ve enjoyed growing into and something I’ll enjoy doing going forward,” he said.
“He got this leadership group together, there was about nine of us, including some of the guys here (in camp), we’d catch up every couple of weeks, sit down and talk from a player’s point of view what we want to see from the coaches and the coaches vice versa.
“I think just Australian rugby in general, regardless of the Force and Rebels guys, it’s been a huge character-building year,” he continued.
“The elephant in the room is (that) no one’s beat a Kiwi team so what an opportunity to beat a Kiwi team in a couple of weeks against the All Blacks.
“You can definitely take some positives out of the season and the desire to go and get one over them in a couple of weeks.”
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