Friday’s rugby news has the Wallabies having to improve, the Refs taking on the All Blacks, Folau dismissing Hansen’s mind-games and SARU corruption investigations.
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Wallabies need to ‘learn quickly’
Wallabies inside centre Matt Toomua has said that the Australian team will need improve on last week’s performance after failing to capitalise on their strong field position. “The All Blacks will shine a light on any mistakes in our game, so we have to learn quickly,” Toomua said.
The All Blacks will be hindered in this pursuit by three changes to the line-up. Liam Messam rejoins the starting 15 at blindside flanker in place of Jerome Kaino, who will be out from four to six weeks with an elbow injury. With Ma’a Nonu also injured, Ryan Crotty will fill in at inside centre alongside the returning Conrad Smith. [/one_half]
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Refs tiring of negative All Blacks
After refereeing the most Tests of any official, including 17 involving the All Blacks, South African Jonathan Kaplan has said that the Kiwi criticism of Jaco Peyper for last week’s match is ill-conceived, with the All Blacks using “marginal tactics” when under pressure. “Are the referees finally beginning to understand what needs to be done to eliminate this constant in their game when they come under pressure in their 22m area?” Kaplan pondered.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen actually said that Peyper admitted to him that a number of decisions were incorrect, including a few short-arm scrum penalties and the sin-binning of Wyatt Crockett. [/one_half]
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Folau dismisses Hansen banter
Israel Folau has paid little notice to Steve Hansen’s comments that the Wallabies have peaked early, with the superstar fullback saying that the team will put in a drastically improved showing this week at Eden park. “The All Blacks will be a lot better than in the 12-all draw but so will we be,” he said, emphasising, “There’s always room for improvement.”
Folau, who gave his own game a six out of ten, lamented the Wallabies inability to finish their opportunities, saying that the team will create much more points if given 65% possession again. [/one_half]
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SARU investigating match-fixing at club level
The SARU have appointed an attorney to investigate allegations of max-fixing in their Boland club competition. The SARU are taking the allegations very seriously, with President Oregan Hoskins saying, “Rugby is built on the ethos of a fair contest and it is repugnant to our game to think that that might not be the case.”
A Boland referee, Joseph Baadjies, has accused the President of the Boland Rugby Union, Ivan Pekeur, of influencing the outcome of matches, and he claims to be supported by other competition referees. [/one_half]
