Thursday’s Rugby News has the Force signing a new prop, a Richie McCaw movie, a new debutant for the Reds and Matt Toomua being pretty bloody honest as to why he’s going overseas.
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Force Sign Daley
As mentioned at the very end of yesterday’s news, the Western Force have confirmed the signing of Reds prop Ben Daley.
The signing of Daley raises a few eyebrows, as the loosehead has spent a lot of his career on the injury table. Aged 28, Daley has been with the Reds for 9 seasons yet only ever played 80 games for the Queenslanders in that time. In the past four seasons, a backlog of injuries has restricted Daley to 30 appearances – he hasn’t been seen this year since round 3, when he tore his pectoral muscle.
Daley, like the late Big Kev, is rather excited: “I’ve spoken to a lot of the guys that I’ve played with at the Reds who have moved onto the Force like Jono Lance, Luke Morahan, Ben Tapuai and Heath Tessmann.
“I’m hoping the transition will be nice and smooth. I’m hoping they’ll welcome me over without too much ribbing. I’m just really looking forward to getting on deck and getting started.”
Interim Force coach Dave Wessels is keen too, adding that: “Everybody that we spoke to about Ben has said that he’s a fantastic character and he adds a lot to the team environment. Certainly he’s experienced and he’s been around professional rugby a long time, so someone like that in our environment is going to be very valuable for us.”
“We have a number of young front row forwards that are developing so to have somebody that has been around the block will be very valuable and good for us as a team,” Wessels also added.
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McCaw On Screen
There’s a Richie McCaw movie. Yep you heard that right.
Chasing Great follows McCaw’s life from childhood all the way to captaining New Zealand to the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. It also features never-before-seen footage of McCaw and his family and friends, surprising given that the former All Blacks captain was so brilliant and humble to reject his knighthood until after he had retired playing.
Asked why he had taken part in the making of the movie, McCaw said he wanted to inspire the kiddies. “You don’t have to be given some super human talent or anything to fulfill your dreams,” he said.
Chasing Great comes out New Zealand on 1 September, and, if you really really want to, you can view the trailer for it over here.
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Paia’aua To Start
There will be another change to the Reds’ lineup against the Chiefs. Kane Douglas’ first start was reported yesterday, and now it seems that the Queenslanders will be making a swap at flyhalf too.
Duncan Paia’aua will be given a shot as playmaker on Friday, as Jake McIntyre has been ruled out of contention after injuring his ankle. It will be the 21-year-old’s first start for the Reds. His last game was just last weekend, when he came on as a sub for McIntyre.
“It’s disappointing to lose Jake for this match, but we’re confident in Duncan’s ability,” co-coach Matt O’Connor told Rugby News. “He performed well when he came off the bench to cover for Jake in the second half last week and we’re all looking forward to seeing what he can produce against the Chiefs on Friday night.”
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“Money Too Good”
When he was asked why he’s going overseas next year, Brumbies playmaker Matt Toomua rubbed his fingers together in that way that means money.
“The money,” Toomua answered, when asked again for something more substantial. “Then there’s the lifestyle and opportunity that is something different. Give anyone in their work a chance to earn good money in a new part of the world, most people would take it.”
“I get to play at a big club in England and that’s exciting. To be fair, you see a lot of guys coming back after not long and it’s not quite what they thought it would be. Playing for Australia is an amazing opportunity and there’s a lot here as well, so I think we’ll remain competitive. The cycle will never end, it’s tough. But it’s the global marketplace.”
It’s been reported lately that the French clubs are to receive a ‘warchest’ from a new television deal, which the SMH puts at $530 million, while Aussie Super only gets $285 million from TV and has a $5 million salary cap per team. Ass such, Toomua’s contract with Leicester will be double what he’s earning in Australia.
Toomua will be joined by Joe Tomane on the European-bound plane from Canberra next season.
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