Monday’s Rugby News sees a return to Super Rugby, a change to the Brisbane Tens for 2019, a possibility to lose a 7’s star and a review for the Australian U20’s.
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Super Rugby is Back
After a tasty June Test Series, it was good to finally see our Super Rugby sides back in action.
On Friday, the Reds travelled to Auckland to play New Zealand strugglers the Blues and went down 39-16.
I caught this game myself and it was a miracle to the lord that my eyes didn’t start bleeding. The games highlights included knock ons, drop balls, miss passes and a whole heap of penalties. Talk about a great game of footy.
The games officiating continued the questioning of how games refereed.
Four yellow cards were given out at different stages and the plethora of penalties made the game incredibly stop-start when the scrums were added to the equation.
On the plus side, If the Queenslanders could pack down for 80 minutes they’d be the best team in the world, let alone just Super Rugby. Tupou and his fellas were utterly dominate and drew 8 penalties from their scrum.
Only onwards and upwards from this one.
The next game up was a classic derby between the Rebels and Waratahs, with the Bernard Foley led side victorious 31 points to 26.
With the Rebels in need of a win to stay in the hunt for the finals and the Tahs leading the Australian conference, the game was always going to be a battle of the heavyweights.
Playing at AAMI Park, the Rebels took confidence from the Tahs lack of cavalry in Michael Hooper’s injury and Israel Folau’s suspension for his aerial pursuits yet a strong fight back from Daryl Gibson’s men sent them packing.
Having been part of the Cheika led title of 2014, Foley knows what it takes to get to the big dance and was quoted by foxsports saying:
“We found ourselves in a real grind tonight and it was just really pleasing that the guys fought their way out of it,” Foley said.
“It wasn’t easy. The Rebels really showed up and challenged us today. We probably lost our way a little bit in that third 20, but the way that we responded and stayed at it was pleasing.”
Finally, the best performance of the round goes to the Brumbies who were in full flight on Saturday night, defeating the Hurricanes 24-12 in Canberra.
Trialling 12-5 at half time, Dan McKellar’s boys produced their best 40 minutes of rugby under his leadership, scoring 19 unanswered points, showing the form the put them at the top of the Australian conference last year.
June series squad member Folau Fainga’a won the man of the match, keeping his name firmly placed in the reckoning for a spot at the end of the season.
Fainga’a said “The theme of the week was playing without fear and the boys showed that on the park tonight,”
“We just played rugby and were not scared of failing.
“We’ve worked on having those second touches and we stuck to our guns.”
The Hurricanes were missing Test stars Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea, Vaea Fifita and Englishman Brad Shields although the Brumbies had their own issues up front with key pins Allan Alaalatoa and Sam Carter absent.
The Brumbies finish the season with two tough away trips against the Chiefs and Waratahs.
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Brisbane Tens Dumped
After a bumpy road to get everything up and running, The Daily Telegraph reports that the Brisbane Tens is likely to be dumped in 2019.
It is reported that a full announcement is to be made on Friday, with the demands of the Rugby World Cup year will cut too deeply into the star quality player stock.
A four year contract to host the tournament at Suncorp is currently in place, but a World Cup year hiatus was always in reckoning, similar to the rugby league (ew) nines tournament in 2017.
Last year 30, 000 fans turned out for the tournament after they moved it to the night timeslot following ridiculous heat in the previous year.
The tournament was a hit with players, coaches and clubs as a way of getting match fitness and a chance to get off the training paddock and back out onto the field.
Hopefully by 2020 the Reds will be primed to take home a Super Rugby Title (sounds legit right?) and we should have 80,000 people.
In all honestly, the 10’s format could really be electric for Super Rugby as it can allow us to give our young stars the opportunity to learn in a high pressure environment as well as providing a free flowing style which suits a young mans mind.
Tournament chief executive Rachael Carrol said
“After wonderfully entertaining tournaments in 2017 and 2018, it’s a real shame we’ve had to make what is a very tough call,”
“We’ve considered many scenarios for 2019 but, unfortunately, we haven’t been able to come up with a viable option.
“The positive feedback we received after the events was incredible. Spectators in the stadium, viewers at home, players, coaches and administrators all clearly loved the event.”
Hopefully we can permanently have the 10’s on the rugby calendar.
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7’s Change to 13
Aussie 7’s Golden girl Charlotte Caslick could become another cross-code star, eyeing off a two month stint playing in the inaugural women’s NRL premiership.
News.com.au reports that the biggest star of Australia’s successful rugby sevens team wants to put together a new deal to stay with our world champion’s, but the lure of being part of league’s new competition is strong.
Caslick is Brisbane born and was a longstanding childhood Broncos fan while her brother Sam, who is involved in the local Brisbane 7’s competitions, plays rugby league for the Ipswich Jets in the Intrust Super Cup.
Thankfully, Charlotte’s focus is on the upcoming Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in San Francisco in late July 20-22, but there is a four month break before the Sevens World Series kicks off. This is a big enough time slot Caslick to be part of the new competition.
Caslick has a big enough star power and following to rival our top rugby players in Australia and it’s extremely important that her brand is associated with Australian Rugby.
Right now, our impressive 7’s ladies are our biggest ambassadors for Australian Rugby and it’s important that we keep them.
By holding onto Caslick, it sends a strong message about a.) the value of our women’s players and b.) the financial strength of our union
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‘Fighting fund’ to help Junior Wallabies’ in the future
Junior Wallabies coach and former Reds assistant Jason Gilmore believes that despite a 5th place finish this year, a return to the top four at the Junior World U20’s Championship isn’t far away according to Rugby.com.au
Australia has finished no higher than fifth since the 2011 tournament and while that has plenty to do with the cutthroat nature of the group stage – with only the top nation from each pool progressing to the final four – the fact remains the more successful sides in the Test arena in recent years have been perennial contenders at U20s level.
While we have struggled at this level, England have qualified for six straight finals and claimed three titles in the process so it is makes perfect sense that their next generation have claimed 18 straight Test wins under the eye of Eddie Jones. (before they pooped their pants the last 7 months)
The Baby Blacks also have added to the talent pool and It’s no secret the All Blacks are the best side in the world, matching England at the Junior World U20’s Championship with 2 championships.
Our Wallabies show a true reflection of our production line, with patchy results at the tournament falling in line with patch Wallabies performances.
Gilmore believes that next years group will have the ability to make a charge at the big dance.
“The tournament itself we were pretty happy with when you consider the exposure and the experience of the guys in this year’s squad,” Gilmore said.
“We will have quite a lot of the boys back in this squad next year and when you take out that first game – which is something we need to work on – we had a pretty good tournament.”
Unfortunately there is no clear protocol with our young talent, Super Rugby and U20’s, with players being moved between the two groups, but by increasing our player pool with the new ‘fighting fund’ Australian Rugby has put together, we can keep our best talent in our U20’s squad and away from the other winter sports.
A prime example is Apenisa Driti, who played for the Australian Barbarians and has been chased by multiple NRL clubs.
“It’s early days for (the fund) but it is something that is certainly needed,” Gilmore said.
“We have the most competitive winter sports market in the world and they’re all after the same players.
“If we can successfully identify who those critical players are, keep them and then develop them through the Super clubs and this program, we’re on our way.”
It’s time to fight back.
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