Monday’s Rugby News has Tony McGahan being sad, Beale may come back, Laurie Fisher’s tweet history, and results from Las Vegas Sevens
[one_half last=”no”]
“Second Best”
Rebels coach Tony McGahan is a sad, sad man. He didn’t quite know what to do with himself post-match.
“It’s hard to know where to start, really,” rugby.com.au (sick URL, btw) said he said.
“Too much turnover ball from set piece, too much turnover ball from breakdown and they did some pretty special things out there but a lot of it was off the back of us.
“Second best in pretty much everything – we tried hard and opened up okay but when they put their foot to the pedal we were unable to keep up.”
That sounds about – the Rebels lost by 65 points to the Hurricanes (71-6) and missed 40 tackles during the game, and now have a heaps fun point difference of -103.
“They’re a good side, no doubt, but we’ve got more in us and we need to deliver that and we certainly haven’t over the last two weeks,” McGahan said.
“We need to start executing and making sure we hang on to the ball so we can do something with it.
“We’re okay but unable to mount consistent enough pressure that subsequently takes some off the defence and allow us to stay in the mix.”
The Rebels will be lucky to get nil next weekend, when they’re off playing the bye.
[/one_half][one_half last=”yes”]
Beale Back?
Let’s have some happy news, hey?
The People’s Daily is reporting that Kurtley Beale will be deciding whether his future’s in England or Australia next week.
Beale is currently ripping it up for Wasps in the Aviva Premiership, and their director of rugby Dai Young had this to say:
“By virtue of being a quality player, Kurtley has a lot of options,” said Young. “We’re expecting a decision over the next week but there’s quite a lot for him to think about – whether he wants another season in the Premiership or go back to Australia. I’m sure he has plenty of options to consider.
“Fingers crossed, he stays. But if he doesn’t we want to make sure he finishes strongly. He’s got better with every game and today was his best yet for us. It was always agreed that we would see how this season goes and how he and his girlfriend settle in. He’s got his international career to think about.”
That’s a rather magnanimous attitude coming from a Pom*, huh. This story smells fishy.
*Actually turns out Dai Young is Welsh. Makes sense now. Disregard
[/one_half][one_half last=”no”]
Fishering For Compliments
Laurie Fisher’s future at Gloucester seems uncertain after, rather impressively and oddly, the former Brumbies coach posted a rather resigned tweet after Gloucester’s 30-27 loss to Harlequins on the weekend.
Unbelievable capitulation. Clearly not good enough. My responsibility. Time to make room for someone else.
— Laurie Fisher (@LordLaurie58) March 4, 2017
Fisher has been at Gloucester since leaving the Brumbies in 2014, and has guided the English club to a Champions Cup (basically rugby’s Europa League) win.
Currently, his team look set to miss out on Champions Cup qualification, with Fisher having called Harlequins game a “must-win”.
Neither Fisher or the club have said anything either way regarding Fisher’s tweet, according to the BBC, so it remains to be seen whether Fisher was being serious or just magnanimous.
A statement from Gloucester said: “The club is aware of the tweet and we are not in a position to comment further.”
[/one_half][one_half last=”yes”]
Unlucky Sevens
The World Series Sevens has cranked into gear again, with Las Vegas concurrently hosting legs of the mens and womens competitions.
It’s been pretty good news for both Australian sides, with Caslick & Co grabbing the silver medal. The women’s side was spanked in the final by their weaker, meaner and uglier Kiwi compatriots.
“We are very disappointed to finish the way we did,” said Australia’s coach, and GAGR friend, Tim Walsh.
“Credit to New Zealand, they played a detailed, mistake-free game and deserved their victory. We have stepped up our game from Sydney and Dubai. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season has to offer and really finish the season strongly.”
The Australian men’s team, meanwhile will face-off with Argentina in the 5th place semi-final AT 8AM this morning (7 Q, 4 WA, 730 SA, 630 NT – is that everyone??)
That’s a pretty good result considering they came 2nd in their pool. Fiji came first, obviously, but only beat the Aussies 24-17 in their pool match.
As luck would have it, the lads then had to square off with South Africa in the quarter-finals. They again had to talk to the hand, losing that game 17-14.
The usual suspects – Fiji, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA – are in the mix for the gold medal.
“In the match against Fiji we just made too many errors and gave away the ball on nine occasions,” men’s coach Andy Friend said. “I thought we were playing good rugby but you can’t make that many errors against such a quality side.
“We started really well (against South Africa) and I thought our gameplan was right.
“We had some opportunities there and just didn’t take the right ones. We just didn’t have the composure to finish the important moments off.”
“Yes we’re a young team but we need to make sure that we are continuing to work hard and be better in those big moments.”
Meanwhile, Ed Jenkins, who bends steel with his jaw at his day job at the Port Kembla steelworks, has broken Peter Miller’s all-time Australia try-scoring record in Las Vegas.
[/one_half]
