Friday’s Rugby News sees the squads for the weekend, more from club corner, the Wallabies locking in a new sponsor and an honest question to ask of Brumbies fans.
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Super Sixteen
Ladies and Gents, it’s round sixteen and it’ll only be us, the Kiwis and the Japanese stepping out on the paddock this weekend. So without further ado, let’s go!
Kicking off is the Rebels, who will head across the ditch to Auckland to play the Blues.
The Stockade has had pretty good last fortnight, with a win in Canberra and a demolition of the Sunwolves in Melbourne last week, and are currently on par with a 6-6 record.
By comparison, the Blues are out of contention, have a 3-9 record and could be without Rieko Ioane and possibly Sonny Bill Williams. But if Brookvale taught us anything, it’s that stranger things have happened. And we’ve been having our arses kicked all year by the Kiwis.
The Rebels will make only one change, with Jermaine Ainsley coming in for Sam Talakai in the front row.
Rebels Squad: Dane Haylett-Petty, Jack Maddocks, Tom English, Billy Meakes, Marika Koroibete, Reece Hodge, Michael Ruru, Amanaki Mafi, Colby Fainga’a, Angus Cottrell, Adam Coleman (c), Matt Philip, Jermaine Ainsley, Anaru Rangi, Fereti Sa’aga. Reserves: Jordan Uelese, Ben Daley, Sam Talakai, Geoff Parling, Ross Haylett-Petty, Harrison Goddard, Tayler Adams, Lopeti Timani.
I actually think this could be a cracker of a match, particularly if the Rebels build on the confidence of the last two weeks. The Blues have beaten stronger Aussie teams though, so I’m going with home-ground advantage. Blues by 7.
Next up, the QLD-NSW rivalry will be back on the line when the Reds host the Tahs in beautiful Brisvegas.
Both sides really took it to the Kiwis last week, and although they both went down, there was a lot of encouraging signs and things to like about their performances.
Starting with the hosts, the Reds are actually still an outside chance of making the finals if they pile up the wins now, and they have to start with some old-fashioned revenge this weekend.
Moses Sorovi comes into the squad at halfback along with Kane Douglas, while Hamish Stewart returns as five-eighth.
The Tahs meanwhile will keep all their Wallabies in the squad, with only one change coming in the form of Jed Holloway returning to the starting lineup.
Reds Squad: Jono Lance, Izaia Perese, Samu Kerevi, Duncan Paia’aua, Jordan Petaia, Hamish Stewart, Moses Sorovi, Scott Higginbotham (c), George Smith, Angus Scott-Young, Kane Douglas, Izack Rodda, Taniela Tupou, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, JP Smith. Reserves: Alex Mafi, Sef Fa’agase, Ruan Smith, Harry Hockings, Caleb Timu, Liam Wright, Ben Lucas, Jayden Ngamanu
Waratahs Squad: Israel Folau, Cam Clark, Curtis Rona, Kurtley Beale, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps, Michael Wells, Michael Hooper (c), Will Miller, Rob Simmons, Jed Holloway, Sekope Kepu, Damien Fitzpatrick, Tom Robertson. Reserves: Tolu Latu, Harry Johnson-Holmes, Shambeckler Vui, Tom Staniforth, Brad Wilkin, Jake Gordon, Lalakai Foketi, Bryce Hegarty
I really think this has got the makings of a cracking game, I honestly do. I hope the Reds faithful come out, because if they get the fans behind them this Reds team will be difficult to stop. I’m going with the Tahs though, just based on their previous form the last few weeks. Tahs by 5.
Check out Rugby Reg’s preview here.
Finally, we head down to Canberra for the Brumbies match against the Sunwolves.
The Ponies are coming off an impressive win against the Bulls in South Africa, while the Moon Dogs got spanked by the Rebels.
There’s been a lot of talk around whether the Brums will release their Wallabies for this game considering how bad it would be if they lost, so whether they do or not remains to be seen. Once they release their squad, I’ll do what I always do and add them in the comments section with a couple of thoughts.
In other matches to round off this game before the June break, the Highlanders will host a Hurricanes outfit out to make amends for their loss last week, while the Chiefs will play the Crusaders at the Tron.
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Club Corner
Here we are again folks, so without further ado, let’s see what club rugby will dish out to us this week.
Kicking off in Sydney, round eight of the Intrust Super Shute Shield saw the Marlins travel to heap more pain on the Wicks at with a 10-23 win, Parramatta played out a thriller at home against West Harbour before eventually going down 21-31, the Students pumped the Rebels 40-12, the Rats got their season back on track by accounting for Eastern Suburbs 29-8, and Gordon got thoroughly smashed at home by Northern Suburbs 14-97.
Round Nine Fixtures:
West Harbour v Warringah
Southern Districts v Northern Suburbs
Manly v Gordon
Eastwood v Sydney University
Parramatta v Randwick
Eastern Suburbs will have the bye.
Round eight also continued over in WA with the Fortescue Metals Group Premier Grade, with a couple of surprising results. Joondalup got a handy 26-7 win of Palmyra, Kalamunda went down 12-19 to Wests, Cottesloe held Nedlands scoreless to win 17-0, Associates kept their position at the top of the table with a 33-29 win over a resilient ARKs side, Perth Bayswater defeated the Cavaliers 31-22 and Wanneroo went down to the Southern Lions 18-26.
Round Nine Fixtures:
Palmyra v Kalamunda
Wests Scarborough v Cottesloe
Nedlands v Associates
Coastal Cavaliers v UWA
Southern Lions v Perth Bayswater
ARKs v Wanneroo Districts
Joondalup will have the bye.
Next up, round five continued in the Coopers Premier Grade in South Australia, with Brighton beating Onkaparinga 28-39, Souths got pumped at home by Old Collegians 5-52, and Burnside absolutely kicked the living shit out of Woodville, winning 88-19.
Round Six Fixtures:
Old Collegians v Brighton
Souths Suburbs v Burnside
Woodville v Onkaparinga
Round six continued down in Melbourne’s BLK Dewar Shield, with Box Hill grabbing a much needed 45-22 win over Endeavour Hills, Footscray went down 20-40 over Power House, Harlequins pumped the Students 57-27 and current table leaders Melbourne flogged Moorabbin 15-60.
Round Seven Fixtures:
Box Hill v Moorabbin
Melbourne v Footscray
Melbourne Uni v Power House
Endeavour Hills v Harlequins
Up in Canberra, round eight only saw two matches played in the John I Dent Cup, with the rugby falling on Canberra’s long weekend holiday. The two matches played saw Gungahlin go down in a thriller to Queanbeyan 28-31, while Tuggeranong pulled off a famous victory over Royals at Viking Park, 34-21.
Round Nine Fixtures:
Uni-Norths v Gungahlin
Queanbeyan v Tuggeranong
Wests v Easts
Royals will have the bye.
And finally, last but not least we head up to Brizzy where the Hospital Challenge Cup hits the halfway mark of the season. Surprisingly, both the Uni of Queensland-Souths game and East-GPS game saw only one try scored, with Souths winning 0-7 and GPS winning 0-5. Bond University got a much needed 41-7 victory over Norths, while Wests also surprised Brothers at home, running out 31-34 winners.
Round Ten Fixtures:
Easts v University of Queensland
GPS v Brothers
Wests v Bond University
Norths v Sunnybank Norths
Souths will have the bye.
Like Super Rugby, club rugby (in some states) will also be taking a break during the June test window, so get along to support your teams!
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Drive your Wallabies
The Wallabies will officially have a test match naming rights sponsor for the first time since 2014, with Mitsubishi Estate locking in a two year contract for all of the Wallabies home test matches.
Rugby Australia has been struggling to pick up a test match sponsor for the last few years, with even the England tour in 2016 not getting a naming sponsor. However, as of now, the upcoming Ireland Series can only now be referred to as the Mitsubishi Estate Ireland Series.
Understandably, Raelene Castle was pretty chuffed with the deal.
“We are incredibly proud to have Mitsubishi Estate come on board as our Test match naming rights partner and official real estate developer for the next two years,” she said to rugby.com.au.
“The Mitsubishi Estate Group has recently expanded its operations into the Australian market, partnering on the development of some of the largest residential buildings in the country.
“Mitsubishi Estate has aligned with Rugby through a shared set of values and we are delighted that they have chosen to partner with Australian Rugby and the Wallabies on top of their recently-announced partnerships with Super Rugby and Rugby World Cup 2019.”
All jokes aside about sponsorship, it is a good sign that sponsors are starting to come back to the Wallabies, even in-spite of all the stuff going on with Izzy and Qantas.
“It is a great honour to be the Test naming rights partner of all 2018 and 2019 Test Matches hosted by the Wallabies,” added Mitsubishi Estate President and CEO Junichi Yoshida.
“We look forward to contributing to their success and enhancing the excitement of the Mitsubishi Estate Ireland Series and the Mitsubishi Estate Rugby Championship together with rugby fans all over the world, participating players, and officials.”
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It’s all on in Canberra
It’s been an interesting week for us Brumbies fans, starting with the high of the Bulls win and the lows of the pressures of Wallaby squad selection, team management, and the news that if fans don’t turn up, the club could fold.
Pete Samu has been at the centre of a lot of discussion, with the Melbournian signing a contract to play for the Ponies next year, but Cheik was keen to get Samu into the Wallaby squad this year for the Ireland Series.
But now, after the whole Brad Shields incident, several folks in the local Kiwi media are taking aim at the NZRU for their lack of clarification in allowing Samu to be released.
Gregor Paul was one of the notable Kiwi journos who took aim at NZRU, saying that “Again, just as was the case with Shields, NZR face accusations of pettiness and spite should they deny Samu’s request.”
Crusaders coach Scott Robertson was much more open though, giving Samu their blessing to play.
“He’s going to be a Wallaby at some stage isn’t he?
“If that’s in June good on him — he’s an Australian who wants to play for Australia. He’s good enough to be a Wallaby.”
Even Crusaders chief executive Andrew Riach chipped in.
“He’s Australian, he’s committed to the Brumbies next year, the Wallabies want him and he’s clearly going to play international rugby for the Wallabies at some point.
“So we’re quite happy for that to be sooner rather than later.”
There was a development yesterday on the whole issue, with Fox Sports getting wind that the Kiwis had put a proposal to Rugby Australia.
“We put a proposal to Rugby Australia early today that would allow Pete Samu to be available for selection in June and for the Rugby Championship,” NZR head of professional rugby Chris Lendrum said.
“Rugby Australia is currently contemplating this proposal.”
Turns out, that proposal is RA paying a “substantial” amount of cash.
The other news out of Canberra was concerned with the club trying desperately to get fans to come along to the Sunwolves game on the weekend. The Brums were aiming for 15,000, but should Dan McKellar rest their best players for Wallaby selection, the chances of making that total would already be severely diminished.
Turns out, the Brums understandably are not keen to rest those players, with the club reportedly fuming at Cheika’s requests.
“Our obligation is to rugby in this region, our members and our fans,” said Brums CEO Michael Thomson to the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We need to recognise that. We’re still trying to work through this issue and hope a resolution to the benefit of both parties can be reached.”
Cheika is reportedly sympathetic to the Brumbies frustrations, and he wasn’t the only one who thought the Ponies were getting the rough end of the stick.
“I empathise with both [Wallabies and Brumbies] coaches in their situations they find themselves in,” said Waratahs coach Daryl Gibson on the issue.
“They both want the best for their team and certainly the Brumbies are going into a game where they want to field their best team and the Wallabies who want the best preparation with their players. It’s a tough situation.
“We certainly haven’t been asked to rest anyone. We’re fortunate we play on Saturday.”
Well, here we are again. Yet another rugby shit show.
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