Thursday’s rugby news has Pocock picking up a RUPA honour, the ARU desperate to re-sign him, the NFL looking to poach rugby players and Faletau changing teams.
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Pocock wins RUPA award
David Pocock has crowned an outstanding 2015 season by taking out The Rugby Union Players’ Association (RUPA) Medal for Excellence as well as the People’s Choice Award, at Wednesday’s Awards Lunch. The award is Australia’s highest player-voted individual honour which Pocock also won in 2010.
“It’s always an honour to be recognised by your peers,” he said. “They are the ones you play alongside and against, and at the end of the day their opinion really does matter, so it’s a huge honour to win the RUPA Medal for Excellence.” The awards reflected the remarkable comeback year for Pocock, with the 26-year-old overcoming a two-year absence caused by knee injuries
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Pulver desperate to re-sign
ARU boss Bill Pulver says he will “consider anything”, including a foreign stint or sabbatical from the game, to keep David Pocock in the Wallabies for the 2019 World Cup. Pulver said the star backrower, who is off contract at the end of next season, was a priority retention for the next World Cup.
“We are really desperate to keep him, he is such a point of difference to the game on and off the paddock,” the ARU boss said. “We’ll do everything within our power to keep him.” There have been suggestions that Pocock will explore a stint overseas or even a break from the game to do community work once his contract expires.
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NFL looking at rugby players
A top NFL agent has held talks with several leading players from the recent Rugby World Cup and is planning to hold an American football try-out camp in the United Kingdom next year. Jack Bechta, who represents Jarryd Hayne, Bechta has already identified eight players who played in the World Cup who he “would love to get my hands on”.
Bechta does make abundantly clear though that, earning a contract in the NFL, let alone playing a single down, is a long and arduous road.”It is going to take a lot of dedication,” Bechta said. “You have to put the time in – studying tape, studying the nuances of the game. Then you need that fast-twitch athletic ability.”
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Bath sign Faletau
Bath have confirmed that Wales and British and Irish Lions back row Taulupe Faletau will join the club next season. The 24-year-old will join from the Dragons, the Welsh region for whom he made his professional debut in 2009.
Faletau is a massive signing for Bath, having played 52 Tests, during which he has played two world Cups, won three Six Nations Championship titles and a British and Irish Lions Test Series victory. “When we talk about this club being ambitious, we’re not just paying lip service…Toby is a world-class player who never takes a backwards step,” Bath head coach Mike Ford said.
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