Thursday’s Rugby News has a new Bledisloe host, good news for Cheika, a retiring referee and a well-deserved award for Christian Leali’ifano.
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All Black Swans
The 2019 Bledisloe will be hosted in Perth, rugby.com.au reports.
The game will be hosted at the new 60,000 capacity oval stadium being built over the river from East Perth. As 2019 is a World Cup year, this Bledisloe game will be the only one hosted in Australia, which gives Perth’s coup an extra edge.
“We are very proud to be bringing Western Australia its first ever Bledisloe Cup Test and are very grateful for the support of the WA Government, through Tourism Western Australia, which has enabled us to make this historic match a reality,” snored ARU CEO Bill Pulver.
“The 2019 Bledisloe Cup match will be one of the first major events played at the new Perth Stadium after its completion in 2018. It will also be a vital clash for both teams, being their one and only clash in The Rugby Championship that year, on the eve of the Rugby World Cup.”
Lifelong Wallabies fan & WA Premier Colin Barnett added: “It will be the only time the All Blacks and the Wallabies play on Australian soil in 2019 in the lead up to the Rugby World Cup, and we expect thousands of people to travel to Perth from the Eastern States and overseas for the game.”
Hopefully long-suffering Force members get first dibs on tickets.
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Cheika Checked
Bill Pulver has told the ABC in giving the Cheikmeister general a good ol’ thumbs up.
“Believe me, Michael Cheika is under no pressure. None whatsoever,” Pulver said, waking up after reading out his press release about the Perth Bledisloe game.
“I’m not pleased to have lost nine Test matches. And boy, let me tell you, Cheika isn’t either. But there are really encouraging signs in terms of talent coming through. Michael Cheika and his coaching group have blooded 13 new Wallabies this year.
“If you look at this as a long-term game towards the 2019 World Cup, I think rugby fans are quietly comfortable with the way we’re developing players.”
Pulver reckons that the short-term pain will lead to long-term gain.
“We never like to call it a rebuilding year, because we take every Test match seriously,” he said.
“One of Michael’s focus points is to make sure you’ve got multiple players competing for the one position, and that leads to better performances and outcomes, and I think we’re getting there. We’ve now got at least two players vying for every position.”
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Joubert Retires
Craig Joubert has announced his retirement from refereeing 15-a-side a rugby, World Rugby says. The South African has now taken up a role as Referee Talent Development Coach, while still refereeing 7s.
His new role will entail identifying and developing the next wave of men’s and women’s referees. Presumably this means he’ll be holding a lot of eyesight tests and ensuring new talent has a completely random approach to reffing scrums.
“This was not a decision I took lightly given the obvious lure of possibly refereeing the British and Irish Lions in New Zealand next year as well as the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019,” Joubert said.
“However, the opportunity to make a difference in other peoples’ careers and lives [and not get screamed at by angry Scots] is something which I’m excited about. It really is a dream job. Over the past few years I have taken [current 7s referee] Rasta Rasivhenge under my wing and have mentored and coached him and it has been enormously rewarding to see him grow as a person and as a referee.
“This position gives me the opportunity to play a more formal role in sharing my experiences and developing referees and to have a positive influence on the lives and careers of other young referees.”
Joubert made his international debut in 2003, being the man in the middle for Namibia and Uganda in Windhoek. Since then, he has gone on to call 69 games, as well as participate in the World Cup and the Olympics.
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Leali’ifano Gonged
Christian Leali’ifano has been awarded RUPA’s Medal of Excellence, after his fellow players judged him to have shown the best performance, leadership, consistency and discipline, both on and off the field, last season.
RUPA Player Director and Western Force captain Matt Hodgson had this to say of Leali’ifano.
“Off the field, what Christian has been through and how he’s held himself in the last couple of months, everyone respects that. He gives other people a lot of hope, and people see a lot of strength in him.
“I was lucky enough to spend a fair bit of time with him in Wallaby camp and toured the UK on several Spring Tours, and he’s a great man.
“He really deserves the award not just for his rugby ability, but for what he does off the field. I know the Brumbies boys will really miss him next year.”
Leali’ifano, still unfortunately battling leukemia, also won Brumbies’ Players’ POTY in a year where he only missed five minutes of Brumbies rugby.
On top of that, he is a Community Champion for the Canberra Domestic Violence Crisis Service and earlier this year was awarded an ACT Government Violence Prevention Award.
The Brumbies flyhalf also completed a Certificate IV in New Small Business and was instrumental in the leadership of the Brumbies’ Pasifika players’ development program, reports rugby.com.au
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