Monday’s Rugby News sees the hapless days come to an end in super rugby, Raelene Castle’s plans for Australian Rugby, changes to the All Blacks squad and the return of the Barbarians.
Written by Edward Stevens
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The Day of Redemption
Well, after what felt like an eternity, or 722 days to be exact, we finally beaten a Kiwi super rugby side. On Saturday night, the Waratahs began the process of restoring hope in our Austrian super rugby franchises with a 41-12 victory over the Highlanders.
After going down to the Blues by 3 points in what was supposed to be the drought breaking game, and a heartbreaking 2 point loss to the Crusaders, the Tahs learned their lessons from their previous close encounters.
What was most impressive however was their ability to execute from a constant one man overlap after the Highlanders were reduced to 14 men for much of the game thanks to a Bruce-Lee like fly kick to the face from Tevita Nabura.
The Waratahs all star backline lit up Allianz Stadium, running in 6 tries between them.
This comes after Rod Kafer’s comments from almost a month ago, slamming Australian sides for our lack of ability to capitalize with a numerical advantage after the Brumbies lost to a Crusaders team which at one stage had 2 players in the bin.
As reported in the SMH, Kafer said at the time “You’ll find space just getting the ball in play, if you pull it into a set piece the space disappears. It’s a lack of understanding about the core fundamentals of how you win games of rugby”.
Oh Happy Days Rod!
The win for the NSW team came after a mixed bag of results for the other Australian super rugby sides.
A young Reds outfit took it to the Hurricanes in an entertaining fixture, but ultimately went down 38-34 in an open and attacking game. It was a lack of defensive pressure which let it slip away for the Queenslanders and Scott Higginbotham lamented their linespeed in particular.
“They’re a side that really thrive off defence sitting back, letting them play their shape, their width to width.” He said speaking to FOX SPORTS. “That’s what we talked about through the week, we wanted to get line speed and put pressure on them.”
It’s one thing knowing what’s coming but it’s another to do something about it.
The Brumbies couldn’t match it with the Lions after a positive start in everyone’s favourite bloke/player/mentor/idol/legend David Pocock’s return from injury. They went down 42-24 to the Lions at Ellis Park Stadium.
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Master Plan
After over 100 days in the hotseat, Rugby Australia CEO Raelene Castle has begun to formulate a plan to reconstruct and redevelop our rugby identity in Australia.
Writing a piece in The Australian on Friday, Castle turned the spotlight up on expanding our junior talent pools as we continue to face a player drain to other codes (blah) and other rugby nations (even worse).
Castle said “Where we are targeting these new entrants is public schools, where our Get Into Rugby (formerly Game On) program has seen more than 70,000 kids experience rugby for the first time since the beginning of 2017, including no less than 5000 indigenous children.”
“Significantly, 68 per cent of these students have been from government schools, and 40 per cent are girls.”
And while Castle understands that it is still vitally important to make sure our high performance sides are competing for trophies, both in super rugby and internationally, it was refreshing to hear someone in an important position place some emphasis on the rugby that most of us are involved in.
Speaking on the relationship between schools and clubs, Castle said “”To support this, we are investing further in growing our development workforce to connect these school participants with clubs,”
“Rugby is facing aggressive competition in this area from other footy codes, so it is important that our product is appealing and the message to students about our game is a positive one.”
With her background in the sports which shall not be named, Castle knows all too well the cash which strong clubs can offer our young talent and making sure we hold onto and attract young players is critically important moving forward.
On this issue, Castle had this to say:
“We are reviewing our contracting system specifically to address this issue and will announce some changes in this area shortly, all designed to ensure our top-priority talent remain in our game after school and have opportunities to experience off-field development and on-field success.”
I must say, I’m impressed.
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All Black Changes
A June test series against France is beckoning for the men in black and The Daily Telegraph has reported Steve Hansen’s 33 man squad, including 6 players yet to play Test rugby.
These players are: Shannon Frizell, Jordan Taufua, Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi, Jack Goodhue, Richie Mo’unga and Tim Perry (with the last 4 playing midweek matches on last European tour)
With usual captain Keiran Read still recovering from back surgery, Sam Whitelock will skipper the side with Ben Smith and Sam Cane to offer their help as vice captains.
Suprisingly there was no space for the ever reliable Matt Todd, damaging ball runner Akira Ioane or the leading try scorer for super rugby Ben Lam.
What’s even more odd is the make up of the squad, with just three specialist locks and two hookers as they look to build backrow depth (as if they don’t already have it).
On picking the side, Hansen said “It’s been a difficult team to select”
“Not because we don’t have a lot of talent. Because we have a lot of it in some areas.”
Frizell is a particularly interesting case, being the brother of Australian rugby league player Tyson Frizell (a former Australian rugby schoolboy by the way), having just started 3 games of super rugby and in his first year of super rugby.
Apparently he’s caught the eye with his physicality and athletisicm.
The first game of the series kicks off on the 9th of June at Eden Park.
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The Baa-Baa’s are Back
In the lead up to England’s upcoming series against South Africa, the Barbarians will play the motherland next Sunday at Twickenham, The Telegraph reports.
So far, a total of 17 names have been officially confirmed by the Barbarians, with All Black Charles Piutau, our very own hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau (officially ruling him out of playing against Ireland in June) and Wales openside flanker Justin Tipuric joining team captain Bundee Aki.
What’s interesting is that Chris Ashton, who has been in red hot form this year for Toulon in the Top 14, setting a new try scoring record in his first season since his controversial move from Saracens, has been given the green light to go up against his old mates.
On Friday night, Toulon drew 19-19 with Lyon at Stade Mayol but were knocked out after extra-time due to their singular try to the visitors’ two.
Given Toulon have no further fixtures for the rest of the season, flamboyant (crazy) club president Mourad Boudjellal has given his A-OK for the 31 year-old wing to play with Pat Lam’s Barbarians squad ahead of their match up against England this Sunday.
The 17 player squad named so far is listed below: Backs: Niyi Adeolokun (Connacht & Ireland), Bundee Aki (Connacht & Ireland), Greig Laidlaw (Clermont & Scotland), Luke McAlister (Toulon & New Zealand), AJ McGinty (Sale Sharks & USA), Charles Piutau (Ulster & New Zealand), Rhodri Williams (Dragons & Wales)
Forwards: John Afoa (Gloucester & New Zealand), Ultan Dillane (Connacht & Ireland), Ramiro Herrera (Stade Francais & Argentina), Benjamin Kayser (Clermont & France), Tatafu Polota-Nau (Leicester & Australia), Sateki Timani (Clermont & Australia), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys & Wales), Loni Uhila (Clermont), Flip van der Merwe (Clermont & South Africa), Victor Vito (La Rochelle & New Zealand)
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