Thursday’s rugby news has a new coach for Samoa, 6 point tries confirmed at the NPC, a Sevens dilemma and Chris Robshaw ready to give up his captaincy.
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New head coach of Samoa
Samoa have hired Alama Ieremia to replace coach Stephen Betham, who resigned following the World Cup. The former All Black midfield back has been appointed to lead the side after the last 18 months as an assistant including the side’s erratic World Cup campaign.
Samoa were one of the top eight seeds when the draw was made for the World Cup but they managed only one win in Pool B, defeating minnows the United States 25-16 in their opening match. They then went on to lose 46-6 to South Africa and 26-5 against Japan. Ieremia will also work as the Samoa Rugby Union’s director of coaching and will oversee the coaching of all its national teams.
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Try-scoring emphasised in NPC
New Zealand’s provincial rugby championship have confirmed a number of rule changes that emphasise attacking rugby, including six points being awarded for tries. The changes will also include penalties being reduced from three points to two points.
New Zealand Rugby general manager Neil Sorenson confirmed the changes are part of a post-World Cup rules review. “What they found in Australia was that there were hardly any kicks at goal, a lot more kicking for touch, a lot more tries but there were other unintended consequences such as more yellow cards as the value of penalties was reduced,” he said.
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Cusack struggles with Sevens choice
Tom Cusack has emphasised the difficulty between choosing between the Brumbies and the Olympic games after the Canberra junior was offered a spot in Stephen Larkham’s squad for the 2016 season. Cusack said that the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to chase a gold medal in Rio convinced him to put off his childhood dream of playing Super Rugby.
“He’s been very successful with the sevens and every time he’s back playing club rugby, he impresses,” Larkham said. “As soon as he’s ready to come back and play 15s, we’re keen to have him.” Cusack’s decision to stick with sevens comes as former Brumbies coach Andy Friend looms as the man to take charge of Australia for the Olympics.
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Robshaw ready to serve
Chris Robshaw will offer his support to his successor if relieved of the England captaincy as he concentrates on securing his place in Eddie Jones’ team. The Harlequins flanker is expected to be stripped of the leadership duties for the forthcoming Six Nations with Dylan Hartley favourite to be installed as skipper, providing he recovers from a concussion that has kept him out since November.
“If Eddie continues with me as captain I’d be hugely honoured,” Robshaw said. “If he decides to go to someone else then I’d respect that decision and fully back the person who comes in.” England failed to advance from the group stage of a World Cup for the first time this year and Robshaw carried much of the burden from this failure after his leadership was heavily criticised
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