Monday’s rugby news has the Wallabies squad meeting, Cheika scrambling for more staff, a loss in the Sevens and a major injury for the English team.
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Wallabies group meet
The Wallabies squad have converged for the first formal gathering in this World Cup year. Test coaches Michael Cheika, Stephen Larkham and a 51-strong group of Australian players met in Brisbane until Tuesday for the first “Wallabies workshop”.
While no training will take place, Cheika described the workshop as “mental prep.” “There’s nothing like having a sit down and having a meal together and getting to know each other and respect and obviously some admin stuff and some game stuff, game knowledge. Just getting the language in sync,” Cheika said.
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Wallabies to lose S&C coach
Michael Cheika will be forced to appoint a new strength and conditioning coach, with the position vacated by Dean Benton for personal reasons just 173 days before the World Cup starts. While also creating more work for Cheika, who is yet to select a Test forwards coach, the departure will affect the co-ordinated physical preparation of the team.
Benton has been giving top Wallabies stars tailored training programs while also aligning the five Super Rugby franchises towards peaking for the Cup. Cheika emphasisied that he is already looking for a replacement, saying, “We’re doing some things that are going to rebuild the cycle around continuity over the four-year block.”
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NZ Sevens too good
The New Zealand Sevens team have thwarted the Australian effort in Hong Kong, winning their match 14-5 thanks to two tries by Rieko Ioane. As a result, New Zealand have topped the group, forcing Australia to play series leader South Africa.The Kiwi side had a shocking start to the tournament, with a 24-24 draw to Portugal on Saturday.
Australia later lost its Cup Quarter-Final clash to South Africa (5-7), before winning the Plate competition after beating England (12-7) and then the USA (21-17). This means that Australia will retain their fourth place standing, while Fiji beat New Zealand in the Cup Final (33-19) and South Africa finished third after seeing off Samoa (26-5). [/one_half]
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Tuilagi out for the season
Manu Tuilagi is expected to miss the remainder of the domestic season through injury, according to Leicester Tigers director of rugby Richard Cockerill. Tigers and England centre Tuilagi has not featured since he suffered a groin injury in early October and Cockerill is not expecting the 23-year-old back anytime soon.
However, the Tigers boss believes Tuilagi could be fit in time for England’s World Cup warm-up fixtures this summer, where he hopes to see the player fight it out for a place in Stuart Lancaster’s final squad. “Hopefully he’ll be involved in the World Cup warm-ups and have a huge say in how England do,” Cockerill said.
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