Monday’s rugby news has McKenzie praising the Wallabies performance, Genia to have surgery, Kane Douglas aiming to return for the 2019 World Cup and the French happier with their performance.
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McKenzie Praises Wallabies
Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie has praised his side after their 6-0 win over the French on Saturday. Despite the fact that there were no tries scored, McKenzie was happy with his side’s performance.
“Regardless of what gets written I thought we showed great character and grit and we toughed out a game that was complicated tactically and we won it,”
“Maybe in the past they’re games we wouldn’t have won, so I was pleased that we’re showing week to week we can find ways to win.”
Wallabies captain Michael Hooper was also satisfied with the win.
“It wasn’t like last week. but you have to be able to find ways to win, and all the good teams are doing that”[/one_half]
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Genia to Have Surgery
Will Genia is set to have ankle surgery this Thursday which will rule him out for eight weeks. Genia suffered the injury against the Hurricanes in Round 11 of Super Rugby and continued to play on however, scans have revealed that the ligament damage that he sustained will require surgery.
The injury adds to the Queensland Reds’ woes as they will now be without their star halves pairing of Genia and Quade Cooper.
Ewen McKenzie conceded that the injury has most likely affected Genia’s form.
“There’s no doubt the nature of the injury he’s got wouldn’t have helped his football. He’s showed a bit of toughness to carry that for some time. It’s getting worse gradually so we needed to get it fixed.” McKenzie said.[/one_half]
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Douglas Back for World Cup
Departing Waratahs lock Kane Douglas has expressed interest in returning to Australia in the hope of being a part of the Wallabies 2019 World Cup campaign. Douglas will miss next year’s World Cup after he signed with Irish club Leinster.
“I know I am missing out on the World Cup, but I’ve got the next one, I’ll be 29 years old then,” Douglas said.
“I am going to Ireland to experience living in another country, playing in another competition, have a new adventure.
“But in the back of my mind I’m hoping to go over there for a couple of years and come back. I want to settle in Australia, I wouldn’t want to live overseas forever. Australia is home.
“My contract ends in June, 2017. Maybe if I come back, who knows, hopefully the Waratahs might still want me.”[/one_half] [one_half last=”yes”]
French Happier with Performance
French coach Philippe Saint-Andre was a lot happier with his team’s performance on Saturday but conceded that it was perhaps a missed opportunity.
“At least tonight we matched them, it was a very tough game of rugby, we were not a sparring partner tonight,” Saint-Andre said.
“But at half-time we should have been at least seven or 10 points in front, we had the opportunity to score and we missed two penalties and it was 0-0.
“Australia started very well in the second half and our discipline started to be a little bit poor.
“But still, the game was close and in the end we also created two scoring opportunities in the last five minutes 14 against 15 to score the last try to win this game. We didn’t do it. Now we need to carry on and keep looking forward to the next game.”[/one_half]
