Thursday’s rugby news has Foley to play in Japan, Israel Folau to undergo surgery, Japan being considered for Rugby Championship expansion and Mike Brown slams England teammates.
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Foley to Japan
Wallabies flyhalf Bernard Foley has become the first player to utilise his flexible contract to play in Japan.
Foley has gone to Japanese club Ricoh Black Rams before returning to the NSW Waratahs ahead of the 2016 Super Rugby season.
“Flexible contracting is taken into consideration for exceptional circumstances, and I am confident that he will put his own well-being at the front of his priorities and thinking.” said Wallabies coach Michael Cheika.
“Bernard is a playmaker who is still yet to reach his full potential and we need our best players eligible for Australia – now and in the future.
“Bernard is one of many playmakers in Australian Rugby that will be vying for a Wallabies jumper over the next period.
“This is the environment we will be creating – where players can challenge one another and ultimately make the Wallabies program stronger.”
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Surgery for Folau
Israel Folau is set to undergo surgery on his ankle ruling him out for four months.
The injury means Folau will not be able to follow Foley and play in Japan which is available to him in his contract.
Folau appeared to injure his ankle in the Wallabies match against Wales. He then missed the Wallabies quarter final match against Scotland and did not appear to fully recover for the rest of the tournament.
Folau will reportedly have to pull out of a lucrative upcoming stint in Japanese rugby but will battle to be fit in time for the start of the NSW Waratahs’ 2016 Super Rugby season.
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Japan Considered for RC
World Rugby chairman Bernard Lapasset has said Japan will be considered to join the Rugby Championship following their strong performance at the World Cup.
“The Super Rugby is a good format to promote rugby in the South that includes some matches in Singapore. That’s important to extend the value and the quality of the game in Asia,” Lapasset told reporters in Tokyo.
“Japan is part of the total global vision of the rugby that we are promoting in the world, especially in the South with Argentina, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia.
“That’s the top five — with Japan. Not just Tier 2 and Tier 1, the top five.
“We need to achieve the process that all five will be pushing together to develop the southern competition and to promote the best rugby ever that we can do in the South.
“We did the same in the North with the Six Nations. Now it will be the five nations in the South.”
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Brown Slams Teammates
Outspoken English fullback Mike Brown has said that he can’t trust his England teammates following Rugby World Cup leaks.
“There has been a story at the weekend which is absolutely ridiculous so the trust has gone now as far as I am concerned,” Brown told Britain’s Daily Telegraph.
“I don’t think anyone was good enough in an England shirt to be piping up saying: ‘This was wrong, that was wrong’ and that sort of thing. If they are going to say something, I think they should put their name to it.
“That is going to make it even more difficult when we (the England squad) do meet up because I think the trust has been, as you can imagine, completely shot now.
“But it will come out who it was at the end of the day so it will be interesting when it does because I will be one of the first people to speak to them.”
Brown has also signed a new long term with Harlequins.
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BREAKING NEWS:
England Coach Stuart Lancaster has stepped down as England head coach.
Lancaster was signed with the RFU until 2020 but was released by “mutual consent”.
“I am obviously extremely saddened to finish the way we did in this World Cup and to step down from the role,” Lancaster said in a statement released by the RFU.
“As I have always said, I ultimately accept and take responsibility for the team’s performance and we have not delivered the results we all hoped for during this tournament.”
