Monday’s Rugby News has Tana Umaga being nice, rugby au UAE, Italian teams being removed and Youngs out of the Lions.
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Tana Being Nice
Tana Umaga says that NZ teams are taking advantage of the uncertainty hovering over Australian teams. Which is probably deliberate obfuscaiton, but oh well.
“We all know there’s been some tough things going on over here and not just on the field, obviously, off the field,” Umaga told rugby.com.au
“So it’s unsettling. When you’ve got that, it’s pretty tough to keep everyone on an even keel when you’re always looking over shoulder wondering, ‘What if? What could happen?’
“That’s tough. I think there’s some quality players and staff involved in these groups and they’ll get it back on track but I suppose what everyone’s looking for is a decision to be made so everyone can know what’s happening.
“We’re taking advantage of that, obviously, and again once they sort that out I’m sure Australian rugby will be back on track.”
Umaga continued: “It is tough and there is anomalies involved in it and that’s probably why they’ve got to change next year so we’re playing more derbies, which we’re all looking forward to.
“The way it is, we know we’ve got to be able to beat teams in our own conference and that’s what we strive for.”
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Le Rugby au UAE
France are to play the All Blacks in UAE, it has been confirmed.
Pundit Arena reports, via various sources, that the game will take place in 2018, probably in November.
“One of our objectives in signing this Memorandum of Understanding is to organise games with the French team here in the UAE in the next couple of years” said FFR head Bernard Laporte.
“We also plan to welcome coaches and referees from the UAE in France at the national centre of in Marcoussis in order to support them to increase their own level. Also welcome some players in France and national team of the UAE.”
While the AB’s involvement isn’t fully certain, it is expected France will play there. Earlier, they were slight reports the French were keen to play the Wallabies in Singapore.
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Italian Force
The 12 of the Pro 12 is made up of four Welsh and Irish teams, and two Scottish and Italian teams. And it appears that the two Italian teams might be cut.
Planet Rugby, via the Scotsman, reports that various chiefs of the Pro12 are keen to kick out the Italian teams, with their perennial poor performance a huge factor.
The report says that: “Their plans for expansion and welcoming of teams from other countries such as the USA are still on track, and while the initial idea was to have two divisions, kicking the Italian sides out of the competition altogether would save the organisers from having to implement such a widespread restructuring of the league.
“The battle for Italy to maintain their place at the top table is somewhat similar to the national side’s defence of their spot in the Six Nations. Their slip in the World Rugby rankings has led to calls for promotion and relegation in the tournament, especially from Georgia who have overtaken them in said rankings, but calls for their guaranteed tier one status to be reviewed have been largely overlooked.
“What happens now is markedly unclear. The tone of the report suggests that Pro12 chiefs would happily dispense with Treviso and Zebre to make way for Houston and Toronto, but Conor O’Shea’s efforts to prevent that from happening appear to have worked for now.”
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Ben Youngs Out
Scottish captain Greig Laidlaw has been called up in place of Ben Youngs, who has excused himself from the Lions squad for personal reasons.
Youngs’ sister-in-law, who has been suffering from cancer the past three years, has just found out her condition is terminal, the poor bugger.
“We are a very close family and, as I am sure everyone can respect, time is now precious together,” Youngs said in a Leicester statement (via rugby.com.au)
“The most important thing for me at this difficult time is to be able to offer as much support as I can to Tom [his brother] and his family in the remaining time we all have together.
“It is a great honour to be selected as a member of the British and Irish Lions squad and I would like to thank Warren Gatland, the staff and the other players for their understanding in this situation.
“I wish them well and, like all rugby supporters in British and Ireland, hope they have a successful tour.”
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CORRECTION: We dun goofed. Thursday’s Rugby News (4 May) mistakenly said that David Puchert didn’t make the Mid-North Coast Axemen representative squad. Rather, he didn’t make the initial Axemen squad. So sorry for that bit of #fakenews. Also, I didn’t link the source of the story, this Daily Telegraph article. So sorry about that too.
