Monday’s rugby news has the Waratahs confident going over to South Africa, Michael Foley still has the support of his players, the Sunwolves win their first ever Super Rugby match and Ardie Savea rules out a return to Sevens.
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Tahs Confident for SA
The Waratahs are hoping to build on their performance against the Western Force as they head to South Africa to take on the Stormers.
Head coach Daryl Gibson was pleased with the performance against the Force but is already looking ahead to next week’s challenge.
“It was playing smart against a team that would come at us with a game plan that has been successful for them. They had a blueprint that had worked the previous games and we had to change something. It would have been foolish for us to play the way we have always played and come up with a different result.”
“They [the Stormers] have the best defence by number of tries conceded so they’re very hard to break down. And they are really adventurous in attack. They’re certainly not afraid to fling it around
“They are playing really nice style. There is no better place to go. We are going to be extremely challenged to go there and it will be a true test of exactly where we are at.”
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Players Still Support Foley
Western Force coach Michael Foley believes he still has the support of his players despite a disappointing start to the season and suffering a heavy loss to the Waratahs on Saturday night.
“You come out of a game like that and it’s easy for people to interpret it that people don’t care. But I assure you the players care a lot,” Foley said
“The expectations we put on ourselves may have been too great. We’ve got to shake that. We’ve got to reset the bar.
“You set goals to make finals, you set your goals to win championships. And when those opportunities start to leak away, you tend to get too disappointed.
“So for us, it’s about showing that spirit we know the team has.
“Although we may not be in the playoff race, being able to go out there and show that type of character we have done before is critical.”
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Sunwolves Win First Match
The Sunwolves won their first Super Rugby match over the weekend after defeating the Jaguars 36-28 in Tokyo.
Captain Shota Horie was proud of the effort particularly after being hammered 92-17 by the Cheetahs the week before.
“To get this historic win in Japan is very special,” Horie said.
“We had to try to forget what happened in our last game and put everything on the line today and luckily we did that.
“We were deeply sorry not to be able to bring the people of Kyushu any relief in our last game.
“I would be very happy if this win can offer them some small hope at this difficult time.”
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Savea Rules Out 7’s
Hurricanes backrower Ardie Savea has ruled out a return to Sevens for the Rio Olympics later this year and instead will focus on the Hurricanes.
Savea played in the Sydney Sevens and Wellington Sevens in which New Zealand won both.
“We’re naturally disappointed that we can no longer call on the services of such a great sevens player,” said NZ Rugby general manager rugby Neil Sorensen.
“He could well have made a huge impact at Rio — he’s a classy player, and he proved that again in Wellington and Sydney.
“However, we understand his reasons … As we said from the outset of our Rio program, playing sevens was very much a personal choice for players.
“You’re never going to get the best out of any athlete by forcing them to play against their wishes.”
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