Devoid of any of the Super Rugby franchise misery, Thursday’s Rugby News is actually ok. The Tahs are going play club rugby this weekend, Slack wants Cheika to have selectors, Aidan Toua wants to stay as does Karmichael.
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Kepu Out
Sekope Kepu was suspended for love tapping (or something like that) a Hurricanes player off the ball earlier this week. On the other hand, the Waratahs have the bye this weekend.
Thing is, this time around, is that Kepu can’t serve his ban playing Shute Shield this weekend. Yep that’s right, the disciplinary rules have been changed.
So sayeth Iain Payten in Fox Sports, anyway.
Normally Kepu could say “yeah but yeah I was planning on playing Shute Shield this weekend anyway” but that ain’t gonna cut it anyway.
On that note, 18 Waratahs will be turning out for their club.
Here’s what’s what:
Norths (Irae Simone, Bryce Hegarty) v Southern Districts (Jed “Ian Kenny” Holloway)
Randwick (Reece Robinson, Andrew Deegan, Andrew Hegarty) v Sydney University (Nick Phipps, Dave McDuling)
Eastern Suburbs (Rose Bay’s own Mack the Mason, Ryan McCauley) v Eastwood (Hugh Roach, Damien Fitzpatrick)
Manly (Matt Lucas) v Parramatta (David Lolohea, Senio Toleafoa)
Penrith v Warringah (Sam Needs, Maclean Jones, Harry Jones)
No word yet whether Minto lad Israel Folau will turn out for boyhood club Sydney University.
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Cheika Needs Seleiktas
Michael Cheika should think about bringing back selectors before the powah gets to his head, Andrew Slack reckons.
“The selection scenario in Australian rugby is now something of a one-man hit-and-hope show,” Slack writes in the Courier Mail, possibly motivated to write a column on the topic as he is a former selector himself or because he’s just desperate to write about something other than what’s going on with Super.
“I’m not certain when it started but the former set up, where an official three-man panel, which included the coach, has been slowly, but apparently purposefully, eroded to the situation where the coach is the sole decider of who receives a call-up. It’s a risky agenda.
“Nobody argues that the buck stops with the coach but it’s worth considering that even the very best are sometimes made better by being saved from themselves.”
I think Slack just wants someone to pick Liam Gill.
“There has always been an uneasy relationship between the Wallaby structure and the Super Rugby teams, despite what warm, cuddly and ultimately politically correct public utterances are made.
“Unease is not always a bad thing, however, and maybe it wouldn’t be the worst idea in the world to reinstate an official Wallaby selection panel, where the coach is joined by one of his assistants as well as one of the current Super Rugby coaches.
“Having sat on national selection panels with coaches Rod Macqueen and Eddie Jones, I know they were very much after the teams they wanted but were also very prepared to listen to a different voice…There must be a number of astute rugby minds sitting around who could be co-opted to help Cheika make the best of what is at his disposal in 2017.”
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Toua In
Aiden Toua is keen to stay at the Brumbies, now that he and his teammates and workmates have been told 4 months before a possible foreclosing, that his work will remain open.
“The quicker, the better,” Toua told rugby pravda.
“You always want that security of having a job, so you never know what is going to happen and with a team going, there are going to be some more guys on the market.
“It’s nothing that I’ve been thinking about too much – I’ve just been working on my game with the team.
“I’ve been concentrating on that and if you play good footy the rest will take care of itself.”
Toua also gave a bit of insight into the Brumbies’ play.
“After the Highlanders game, during the bye, we saw defensively that we were going really well and our composure in clearing our end has been quite good as well,” he said.
“The next step was evolving our attack and it was something we really worked on in those two weeks off.
“Having guys looking to identify the space as well as myself, only creates more space on the field.
“We’ve finally turned the page in the way we want to attack and transferring what we did on the training paddock onto the field was really good – it was really good to see.”
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Karmichael In
Karmichael Hunt is keen to stay at the Queensland Reds, which is something special given this is the bloke who has code-switched twice.
“My body has had enough of the transitions” Hunt told Fox Sports.
“I am pretty comfortable at 94kg and playing. And I am loving my rugby. I have not had this much fun in a long time.
“But there will be less contracts available next year. There is uncertainty for everyone.”
Hunt is also keen as a bean now that he’s got over his ol’ groin issues.
“My journey is pretty well documented and there have been a lot of challenges but now I feel like I am in good stead to keep building on my performances and playing good rugby,” he said.
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Recommended Reading
- Greg Growden slamdunks ARU, bigs up Matt Hodgson (ESPN Scrum)
- Alan Jones goes off his chops at the ARU (SMH)
- Stirling Mortlock goes off his chops at the ARU (SMH)
- WA Labor (!) Premier goes off his chops about ARU (West Australian)
- RUPA backs Force, Rebels threats of legal action (SMH)
- Sharpey reckons getting rid of Force akin to nuking rugby in WA (DT – paywall)
- NZRU Chief says they didn’t bully ARU (DT – paywall)
- Brett Papworth wary of ARU plans to divert savings to grassroots (DT – paywall)
- Brett Papworth writes article of ARU being rubbish (Rugby News)
- Dave Wessels reckons Force players don’t like being treated like shit, will play better because of it (rugby.com.au)
- SA Rugby set criteria for Super Rugby cut (Planet Rugby)
- Podcast about which Saffer team will go (Rugby 365)
