Friday’s Rugby News sees the announcement of the RWC fixtures, chat on the Wallaby squad, SBS to the rescue and playing the Game of Thorn.
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Fixtures In
Well, it’s only two years out from the World Cup, and yesterday we got the fixture list for the event, which you can view in it’s entirety here.
The Wallabies are located in Group D, against the likes of Wales, Georgia, Fiji and one Americas team (once it is picked).
They will play four matches at four different venues, travelling up and down the length of Japan during the group stages.
They kick off their campaign against Fiji in Sapporo in Japan’s north, before coming down to Tokyo to face Wales. They will then head to Oita (down the South of Japan) to take on the Americas team before returning next to Ecopa (just south of Tokyo) to play Georgia.
While there will be a lot more travel involved, that will apparently not affect the Wallabies much, according to Michael Cheika.
“It doesn’t matter what we end up doing or where we end up going, we’ll be prepared for it around not being too strict,” he said.
“It’s going to be a busy, busting environment and it may not be always, like you get in an England or a South Africa or Australia around size of places and we just got to go with the flow and enjoy the experience.
“We’ve got to be very prepared in the background and then be very relaxed about what happens because it’s not going to always flow how you want it and you can’t let those things ever derail you.”
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Wallaby squad
Staying in Japan, with Bernard Foley out with illness and Quade Cooper… just…. out…. the torch of the starting flyhalf has passed on to a bloke who has surprised many a punter: Reece Hodge.
Michael Cheika however has made sure the young-gun is well equipped for the role: both him and Kurtley Beale have been training as understudies for Foley in the event that the Iceman found himself compromised by injury or illness.
For Hodge, it now really comes down to stepping up and making a good first impression in the role.
“I think Nardy’s (Foley) played 80 minutes in every game since then (August), so I haven’t really had the chance since then but I guess I have had to be prepared,” he said to rugby.com.au.
“Now it’s just about me stepping into the job and performing it as Nardy would love me to do, if he wasn’t sick.”
Cheik was also quietly confident that Hodge can deliver.
“Obviously it’s a missed opportunity and not having our playmaker there, chief, in Bernard it does hurt us, I won’t lie about that, but I’ve got absolute confidence in Hodge because that’s why I asked him to do that in the first place,” he said.
“Then we’ve still got a guy like Beale back ending for him, so if anything goes on we’ve got that back-up there.
“I was asked that question a little bit (about flyhalf depth) when we selected the squad and it’s come straight away to the forefront and as usual we believe what we’re doing so we want to give the guy an opportunity.
“I think there’s a few opportunities for guys to cement some spots and put some pressure on some incumbents.”
For those of you who don’t know the Wallaby squad, here they are:
1. Scott Sio (39 Tests), 2. Tatafu Polota-Nau (78 Tests), 3. Sekope Kepu (87 Tests), 4. Rob Simmons (78 Tests), 5. Adam Coleman (18 Tests), 6. Ned Hanigan (9 Tests), 7. Michael Hooper (c) (75 Tests), 8. Sean McMahon (22 Tests), 9. Nick Phipps (vc) (58 Tests), 10. Reece Hodge (20 Tests), 11. Marika Koroibete (4 Tests), 12. Samu Kerevi (14 Tests), 13. Tevita Kuridrani (54 Tests), 14. Henry Speight (17 Tests), 15. Kurtley Beale (vc) (67 Tests) Reserves: 16. Stephen Moore (125 Tests), 17. Tom Robertson (15 Tests), 18. Allan Alaalatoa (19 Tests), 19. Matt Philip*, 20. Ben McCalman (49 Tests), 21. Lopeti Timani (9 Tests), 22. Joe Powell (2 Tests), 23. Curtis Rona (2 Tests)
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Thank God You’re Here
Speaking of coverage, SBS will be covering three of the Spring Tour matches for Wallabies fans. This is the second year in a row they have done it, after covering several games at very short notice last year. (Cheers to several readers yesterday who pointed this out).
Considering the lack of coverage the game has been getting on Free-to-Air, having the Wallabies overseas matches covered will do much for many fans looking to enjoy the rugby as we head into summer. Considering there is so much coverage only available on Pay TV, the more FTA coverage, the better.
The first two Tests will be shown on SBS, while the Scotland Test will be on SBS Viceland. The only match that we won’t be able to watch is the Japanese test this weekend, which will only be shown exclusively on Fox Sports.
For more information about the Spring Tour coverage, head over to rugby.com.au.
Spring Tour Dates:
November 12, 4:15am AEDT- Wales vs Australia
November 19, 2am AEDT – England vs Australia
November 26, 1:30am AEDT – Scotland vs Australia
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The Game of Thorn nears it’s climax
It is the penultimate round of the NRC this year, and many folks yesterday put money on Canberra taking home Australian rugby’s most coveted Toast Rack.
However, according to Duncan Paia’aua, there is something brewing up in the north. And the answer, is Brad Thorn.
Paia’aua believes that Thorn has instilled a seriously mentality change in the Queensland Country side this year, and he hopes that the new Reds coach will be able to translate it to the Super Rugby level.
“He’s bought that winning mentality into this group,” Paia’aua said to rugby.com.au.
“He’s been a winner his whole career and I know all the Country boys have bought into his winning culture.
“Hopefully we can transition that into Super Rugby with the Reds and I know he will do a great job for us.”
While Paia’aua admitted that putting on the Wallaby jersey was a huge honour, he hopes to use that experience to benefit Country’s outfit, who play their maiden finals campaign this weekend.
“Obviously in past years we weren’t even in contention for finals – I think the best we ever finished was second last a couple years ago.
“It’s just been a good change for the boys, that winning attitude we all have now and have taken upon ourselves this season has been really good.”
The first challenge ahead of them: an imposing Fijian Drua side, whom Country will face in Toowoomba this weekend.
“They’ve [the Drua] been a breath of fresh air in the comp and I think it’s a good thing for Australian rugby as well,” Paia’aua said.
“Adapting to the skill level they have, we can put it into our game as well.
“It’s going to be a massive challenge this weekend, obviously they play a very hard game of footy, they like to offload and play very unpredictable football so it’s going to be a good challenge for us.”
On a side note, minor premiers the Canberra Vikings will take on proven finals banana peel Perth Spirit in Canberra’s Viking Park this weekend. The winners of both these games will go on to meet in the final next week, which will serve as the final professional match played in the Australian rugby season this year.
Get out there and support NRC finals footy this weekend. You won’t regret it.
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