Friday’s Rugby News sees wallaby selection news, low acts, Super W and Paddy-come-latelies.
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Shocking Pocock News!
Here it is… David Pocock will be considered for the Wallabies Openside flanker role! I know right! Imagine considering a world-class openside flanker for a position like, openside flanker!
This is the type of thinking Michael O’Connor is bringing to the table in his new role as Wallaby selector. O’Connor goes on to discuss the problematic areas of Quade Coopers game, and while he doesn’t come out and say it I’m guessing he means the tackling, and whether Australia actually needs to replace Bernie Larkham in the Wallabies set-up.
MOC will join Cheika and Scott Johnson on a three-man selectors panel that has personality written all over it. Oh to be a fly on the wall at a couple of those meetings eh? Anyone know a guy who can bug a room?
“There may be a different perspective I put on the table and I’m sure Johnno will do the same,” O’Connor told the Sydney Morning Herald. “The most important thing is we have a healthy discussion and debate about combinations. It’s helpful just to have another set of eyes and perspective.
So… How do you pick an all NSW Wallabies selection committee without pissing off the Qlders?
Find a Sydney boy who lives in Queensland!
I think some of O’Connor’s ideas have merit. We should look at balancing our back row instead of cramming our two best players in there and hoping for the best. Someone should pull Quade Cooper aside and get him to tackle a bit lower. Even his try saver against Tevita Kuridrani, while a great tackle, was up there. But going into a world cup without an attack coach? What do you think?
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Watch Out For The Boogey Man
When you grow up playing Rugby union and league in western Queensland you get to see more than your fair share of dirty work on a rugby field. But Cheetahs player Nico Lee has just taken first prize for the lowest thing I’ve seen on the pitch.
In the Cheetahs Pro 14 game against Connacht in Galway, last Saturday Lee “cleared the contents of his nose” onto Australian Colby Fa’aingaa face while he was stuck at the bottom of a ruck. That’s pretty sick stuff! Lee, in my opinion, got off very lightly with a 13-week ban! Toyota, the Cheetahs major sponsor, must wonder what they’ve got themselves into with their name being used every time Cheetahs is used in most articles.
He was reported under Law 9.27 – a player must not do anything that is against the spirit of good sportsmanship. A three-man disciplinary committee concluded that Lee had committed an intentional act of foul play.
In a statement, Pro14 organisers said: “With regard to the offence, the player accepted that he had cleared the contents of his nose on to the face of an opposing player, thereby committing an act of foul play.”
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Super W Starts
Super W starts this weekend with debutants crawling out of the woodwork everywhere!
NSW Waratahs Women have named 10 debutants as part of their side for the opening clash of the Buildcorp Super W, as they prepare to travel to Canberra to take on rivals the Brumbies.
NSW Waratahs Women’s Head Coach Matt Evrard, said the number of Wallaroos joining the squad will benefit the younger players coming through the ranks.
“It will be great experience for them (younger players). Before the last Super W season, we didn’t have a great deal of Wallaroos in our squad so to have up to 15 in the squad now, who have represented their country, is a real positive.
“It will be good to be able to share that load of leadership and a lot of young girls we’ve got coming through will be able to learn from their experience and push forward,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Brumbies have new players of their own snaring the services of school swim star Brooke Gilroy. Gilroy is still in grade 12 but is keen as mustard.
“I wanted to do rugby ever since I was little,” Gilroy said.
“Since the first game, I’ve known that I loved it and I’ve wanted to pursue what can come.”
The NSW Waratahs Women will take on the Brumbies side at GIO Stadium, Canberra at 5:00 pm on Saturday 23 February.
Meanwhile Queensland have also named ten debutants for their game against the Rebels women at Box Hill Rugby Club in Melbourne on Sunday, kicking off at 2:00 pm AEST.
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‘Paddy-come-latelies’
This ones here purely on the headline. Paddy-come-latelies is the perfect description for player with the loosest affiliations turning out for their vaguely adopted countries.
Former Irish and BIL flyhalf Tony Ward has let off with both barrels at the state of the current eligibility laws.
The former British and Irish Lions first five-eighth – writing in the Irish Independent – said the “glut of inter-country transfers” was “a blight” on rugby and the move to a five-year residency qualification criterion ‘could not come quick enough.
Ward – who won 19 Irish caps between 1978 and 1987 – said Ireland was not the only nation at fault. Former Scotland and Lions No 8 Johnny Beattie told him before the Scotland-Ireland test in Edinburgh that “14 of the squad of [Scotland’s] squad of 23 … did not learn their rugby in Scotland”.
“Make of that what you will, but the bottom line is that this false patriotism [not in every case, I might add] is endemic in every nation in the northern hemisphere.
Ward – who won 19 Irish caps between 1978 and 1987 – said Ireland were not the only nation at fault. Former Scotland and Lions No 8 Johnny Beattie told him before the Scotland-Ireland test in Edinburgh that “14 of the squad of [Scotland’s] squad of 23 … did not learn their rugby in Scotland”.
“Make of that what you will, but the bottom line is that this false patriotism [not in every case, I might add] is endemic in every nation in the northern hemisphere.
“I am sure there are others, but they are very few and far between as the southern hemisphere has been much more protective of the worth of home-produced players.
World Rugby plans to extend international residency qualification from three years to five.
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