21 October 2024
Good morning everyone, and welcome to Monday and Monday’s Rugby News. Reds and Wallabies Fan here filling in for BLL who has a rare Monday off. It’s Monday morning, so grab yourself a coffee, or if you’ve had one, grab another, and let’s get into the week .
Two main pieces of news today: Peter Horne and RA demonstrating they have a plan for the game, and Hamish McLennan urging RA to go back to his plan.
Rugby Australia has a plan
There’s a good article over at The Roar in which Peter Horne explains the rationale behind the Wallabies and Australia XV touring squads, the scale of the task in front of Joe Schmidt and his team next year and how they are seeking more alignment between the Super Rugby clubs.
The Wallabies and Australia XV squads will be named this week, with the Wallabies embarking on a grand slam tour with matches against England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, and Australia XV (Australia A) playing against the Bristol Bears and England A.
What we’re trying to do is expose 64 players over that window to high-level competition,” Horne told reporters on Friday. “We need to get ready for next year. It’s a big year, 15 Tests, with the British and Irish Lions, TRC, November window, so it’s a huge load. The more players that we can get collectively together, playing at a higher level of footy against good opposition, not only gives Joe and the coaching team a lot but also inadvertently helps us prepare players to go to Super Rugby and be in a better position.” Horne is quoted as saying.
It’s good to see opportunities for more players to tour and get time to improve their games. Horne also talked about the green shoots in recent seasons, particularly wins against the kiwi sides, and how we need to keep aiming up with a view to winning Super Rugby titles.
He touched on the role of foreign players in our Super teams. He wants to see less foreign players with a greater focus on Australian players. This does make sense now that we have four teams, so there is more competition for spots, and hopefully that makes the players push harder and we see better results from the four teams.
To round out the wide ranging article, Horne answered questions about player retention, particularly in the face of aggressive league poaching. He talked about the value proposition that RA has in terms of the quality of their program, and the opportunity to tour internationally. They are obviously trying to work more with the super clubs and the players from U14s to Super Rugby and provide more opportunities for games, and quality coaching.
Overall, it is a good article with lots of positive messages coming out of RA, and what seems like a plan to move forward.
Back to the past
And then there was Hamish McLennan, also reported on The Roar here and in the Sydney Morning Herald.
In news that may disappoint, but not surprise too many of us here, McLennan is urging the Wallabies to chase league stars to save the game in Australia. After defending his decision to sign Joseph Suaalii on a huge deal, he’s doubled down and suggested that the Wallabies need to chase Nathan Cleary and other established league stars to help rugby stay relevant with the World Cup just three years away. And if that wasn’t enough, he’s suggesting that Joseph Suaalii has driven massive interest in rugby and already paid for himself over and over again. In fact, rugby needs five Joseph Suaaliis ahead of the World Cup according to McLennan, or it won’t have anything left to sell.
I’m sure that this will be a hot topic of discussion today, because considering his record of keeping the game afloat during Covid, and showing a hard edge in negotiations with the Kiwis, this latest thought is quite astounding. I don’t watch league, so to be honest, I don’t know how many league players there are that could make a difference in rugby compared to the players that we already have in Super Rugby and playing overseas. I think this would be financially disastrous for Rugby Australia, and it would undermine our development pathways and the great work that Peter Horne and others are doing.
Wallabies and Australia XV squad
The squads will be named this week, and there’s plenty of speculation about who might get a call up to the Australia XV squad with players like John Bryant, Tom Hooper, Luke Reimer and others all being mentioned, and that’s just for the back row. Then there are the fringe playmakers like Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Tane Edmed and Lawson Creighton.
It’s an exciting time to be a Wallabies player, or a player on the fringe of the squad, with the opportunity to go on tour and then play games next year against the British & Irish Lions. There are six games against the Lions plus three test matches, and with the Rebels demise maybe we’ll see an Australia XV game against the Lions.
That’s it for me today, again, welcome to your week, and look forward to the discussions in the comments.
