Friday’s Rugby News sees the Wallabies and Irelands squads named, another edition of club corner, the Force on helping Super Rugby and World Rugby clarifying it’s backflip.
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The battle lines are drawn
The Lansdowne Cup is up for grabs this weekend, and both sides have made a couple of interesting decisions on the squad front.
The Wallabies squad sees Lukhan Tui come in for Caleb Timu (who has been dropped from the squad entirely), while Izack Rodda and Nick Phipps come into the starting lineup to make up for injuries. Ned Hanigan and Joe Powell have also come onto the bench.
Wallabies Squad:
1. Scott Sio
2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa
3. Sekope Kepu
4. Izack Rodda
5. Adam Coleman
6. Lukhan Tui
7. Michael Hooper (c)
8. David Pocock
9. Nick Phipps
10. Bernard Foley
11. Marika Koroibete
12. Kurtley Beale
13. Samu Kerevi
14. Dane Haylett-Petty
15. Israel Folau
REPLACEMENTS
16. Tolu Latu
17. Tom Robertson
18. Taniela Tupou
19. Rob Simmons
20. Ned Hanigan
21. Pete Samu
22. Joe Powell
23. Reece Hodge
The Irish squad has also been named:
1. Jack McGrath
2. Sean Cronin
3. Tadhg Furlong
4. Devin Toner
5. James Ryan
6. CJ Stander
7. Peter O’Mahony (c)
8. Jack Conan
9. Conor Murray
10. Johnny Sexton
11. Jacob Stockdale
12. Bundee Aki
13. Robbie Henshaw
14. Keith Earls
15. Rob Kearney
REPLACEMENTS
16. Niall Scannell
17. Cian Healy
18. John Ryan
19. Tadhg Beirne
20. Jordi Murphy
21. Kieran Marmion
22. Ross Byrne
23. Jordan Larmour
This match is seriously too close to call. What do we reckon GAGRs? Who’s in for the win?
The other matches of the weekend see an in-form Fiji host Tonga, Japan will host their third test of the year against Georgia, the All Blacks will go for a whitewash against France, while the Springboks will look to do the same against England, before the USA look to finish their June internationals undefeated when they head north of the border to face Canada, and the Pumas will look to win their first match of the year when they take on Scotland.
Finally, World Series Rugby also get’s back underway this weekend with the Western Force out to prove a point when they take on the Crusaders in Perth. The Force have named a strong squad, with Jeremy Thrush and Cameron Orr set to make their debuts for the WA club. It’s sure to be a tough assignment for the men from the West, but they have impressed a lot this season, so nothing is off the table.
Force Squad:
1. Harrison Lloyd, 2. Heath Tessmann, 3. Chris Heiberg, 4. Fergus Lee-Warner, 5. Jeremy Thrush, 6. Henry Stowers, 7. Chris Alcock, 8. Brynard Stander, 9. Ian Prior ©, 10. Andrew Deegan, 11. Rod Davies, 12. AJ Alatimu, 13. Brad Lacey, 14. Masivesi Dakuwaqa, 15. Peter Grant
REPLACEMENTS
16. Feleti Kaitu’u, 17. Cameron Orr, 18. Tom Sheminant, 19. Leon Power, 20. Johan Bardoul, 21. Tevin Ferris, 22. Harrison Orr, 23. Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, 24. Henry Taefu, 25. Clay Uyen.
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Club Corner
Some kind of place where the sun does shine and the moon doth glow and the grass doth grow… there be club corner.
Kicking off in Queensland, round 12 saw Easts defeat Brothers away from home 36-48, Norths pull off a 19-20 win over Souths, Uni of Queensland prevail over Bond Uni away from home 19-29, and GPS knock over Sunnybank 36-12.
Round Thirteen Fixtures:
University of Queensland v Sunnybank
Brothers v Souths
Easts v Bond University
Norths v Wests
GPS have the bye.
In Sydney, round ten of the Shute Shield saw Gordon continue to struggle, losing 17-71 to Eastwood. Randwick fell at home 22-23 to Southern Districts, Manly flogged Parramatta 64-15, Northern Suburbs went down at home to Eastern Suburbs 8-36, and Warringah prevailed over the Students 15-12.
Round Eleven Fixtures:
West Harbour v Manly
Southern Districts v Parramatta
Eastern Suburbs v Eastwood
Warringah v Gordon
Sydney University v Randwick
Northern Suburbs have the bye.
Down in Melbourne, round eight of the Dewar Shield saw Box Hill surprise Melbourne Uni 38-17, Harlequins smash Footscray 40-12, Melbourne smashed Endeavour Hills 71-17, and Power House went down 26-46 to Moorabbin at home.
Round Nine Fixtures:
Endeavour Hills v Power House
Footscray v Box Hill
Melbourne Uni v Melbourne
Moorabbin v Harlequins
In Canberra, round eleven of the John I Dent Cup saw Gungahlin pick up a surprise 20-12 win over Royals, Wests come back across the border with a 10-30 win over Queanbeyan, and Tuggeranong went down 28-31 to Uni-Norths at Viking Park. It was a round that saw the competition open up a lot after a couple of surprise results.
Round Twelve Fixtures:
Easts v Wests
Queanbeyan v Uni-Norths
Tuggeranong v Gungahlin
Royals have the bye.
Round Seven of the Coopers Premier Grade in Adelaide saw Onkaparinga beat Souths Suburbs 41-3, Old Collegians went down 19-22 to Burnside, and Brighton smash Woodville 38-10.
Round Eight Fixtures:
Onkaparinga v Old Collegians
Woodville v Souths Suburbs
Burnside v Brighton
And finally, we wrap up club corner in Western Australia. Round ten saw Joondalup fall 21-30 to Cottlesloe, Nedlands grabbed an important away win over Perth Bayswater 15-47, Associates hammered UWA 34-3, ARKs went down to Kalamunda 26-43, Palmyra grabbed a vital 22-25 away win over Southern Lions, and Wanneroo went down at home 5-28 against Wests Scarborough.
Round Eleven Fixtures:
Palmyra v Coastal Cavaliers
Wests Scarborough v Southern Lions
Cottesloe v UWA
Kalamunda v Joondalup
Nedlands v Wanneroo
Associates v Perth Bayswater
ARKs have the bye.
Enjoy your club rugby this weekend, and go the Wallabies!
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Super Crossroads
These are interesting times for Super Rugby. Following the cutting of three teams last year, a plateauing of interest has many wondering about the future of the competition.
It’s a particularly interesting one if you are a Western Force supporter. While many Force fans still look upon the competition with disdain, Former All Black Jeremy Thrush believes that World Series Rugby could be exactly what Super Rugby needs to freshen up the competition.
Twiggy has plans to make WSR a competition that other clubs will want to join, and Thrush seems to echo his thoughts when he spoke to rugby.com.au.
“I guess it’s [Super Rugby] at a little bit of a crossroads the way it’s going,” Thrush said.
“I feel it needs a bit of a freshen up somehow.
“I guess if we’re building this World Series Rugby here, and we can keep pushing it through, then maybe further down the line it (Super Rugby) might combine with what we’re doing here, which would be great.”
The Force will start their game against the Crusaders as heavy underdogs, but Thrush admitted that there are “chinks in any team’s armour,” and that the team is extremely motivated to try and knock over the Super Rugby champions.
In other crossroad news, George Smith will be heading over to England to join Bristol on a replacement contract at the end of this year. His contract with the Reds is due to run out at the end of the season. It was widely assumed Smith would retire at the end of the season, but he keeps chugging along.
Smith will head into his 19th straight year of professional rugby next year, only three years behind Brad Thorn‘s 22 year stint across league and union codes.
“I’m looking forward to coming back to the Premiership – a tough competition that I really enjoyed – and representing Bristol at Ashton Gate,” said Smith to Sports News.
Unsurprisingly, he’s no stranger to this competition, having already played for Wasps.
“I’ll be able to pass on some advice to the younger guys in the squad as well and I’ll be giving my all to the cause during my time at the club.”
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Clarification plz
World Rugby has pissed off plenty of folks off over the course of this week, following the announcement that they had retracted the red card against Benjamin Fall in his side’s loss to the All Blacks over the weekend.
So notable the backlash has been, that the governing body has now been forced to issue a statement clarifying it’s decision-making process.
While defending Angus Gardner and the TMO for not having access to all camera angles on the field, World Rugby admitted that Fall was not guilty of foul play, as he was committed to competing for the ball but had already been hampered by New Zealand centre Anton Lienert-Brown. The resulting mix-up left Beauden Barrett with concussion, which will see him miss this weekend’s test.
“In respect of the red card issued to Benjamin Fall during the New Zealand versus France match on June 16, the match official team followed the guideline correctly and made a decision based on the available camera angles,” the statement read.
“Only during the subsequent review by an independent judicial panel, when additional camera angles were made available, was it determined that Benjamin Fall was knocked off balance immediately prior to the challenge and therefore the red card was dismissed.”
Ever since the card, the debate around whether a report system should be introduced into rugby has become increasingly vocal, with both Steven Hansen and Michael Cheika admitting that they would be open to the idea, although trials would be required first.
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