Thursday’s Rugby News sees Kiwis taking inspiration from the Brumbies, more talk on the Wallaby squad, Gibson once again trying to teach his Tahs a lesson, and more news from the NRC.
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Canes inspired by a Brumby
Yep, never thought you’d hear that this year, but in fairness, this a pretty damn good thing to be inspired by. The Hurricanes have taken inspiration for Saturday’s game against the Brumbies by admiring the return of Christian Lealiifano.
Surprisingly, when the Hurricanes last came to Canberra they were smashed 52-10 in the first round of the 2016 season, and that loss still lingers in the minds of many of the men from Wellington, despite their dominance of the competition ever since. It is also the last time the Brumbies actually beat a Kiwi side.
The Hurricanes don’t seem to be taking the Brumbies lightly, as judged by the words of No. 8 Brad Shields when he spoke to the Canberra Times.
“The Brumbies might not have played their best rugby [this season], but we’re in Canberra and this is home for them,” Shields said.
“This is quarter-final rugby. It’s going to be a long day at the office if we don’t bring our A-game. Whatever has happened in the year is worth nothing if you lose on Friday night.
“We learnt a lot about ourselves in that first round [in Canberra] last year, we still use that as motivation. We don’t want to be in that situation again … but it showed how well the Brumbies can be at home.”
The Hurricanes will be boosted by the return of Dan Coles and Beauden Barrett to the squad. But, when the visitors discovered that Lealiifano was to be included on the bench for the home team, they were quick to heap praise on the Brumby.
Lealiifano’s well-publicised battle with leukemia shocked many in the global rugby community, but Canes fullback Nehe Milner-Skudder heaped praise on Lealiifano for his determination to recover and get back on the field.
“It’s bloody inspiring,” Milner-Skudder said.
“It was pretty sad to hear what he went through, but to see him come out the other end and back playing footy … I’m inspired by his story and I’ve been a big fan for a long time.”
“It’s massive. To see him go through what he has, it’s inspirational for us. You put rugby aside and you’re happy to see someone like that coming back on the field,” Shields said.
“He’ll probably get a bit of a standing ovation from the crowd. He’s a tough bugger and that shows a lot about his character.”
While they’re happy for Lealiifano to be back on the field, Milner-Skudder admitted that there would be little room for sentiment with the quarter finals on the line.
“I hate losing, I’m a pretty competitive person so to get a win is always nice,” Milner-Skudder laughed..
“Especially against trans-Tasman rivals, it makes it even sweeter. But we know this week [the regular-season dominance] counts for nothing.
“If we lose we’re going home and it counts for nothing. It’s a different ball game come the play-offs.”
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Rookies in, Quade out.
This here is a picture of Quade after he found out he got the boot. I can already hear the Kiwi’s jeering, remembering with seething and ruthless anger that moment that destroyed their lives…. five years ago? Six years ago? I can’t remember…
All jokes aside, many are quite surprised (including myself) that Quade is not in the training squad. And Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was surprisingly blunt when explaining his reasons why he wasn’t included.
“From a form perspective, yeah I don’t think his form has been brilliant, to be honest,” he said to rugby.com.au.
“With us, it’s a bit different because I haven’t been giving him big minutes (for the Wallabies), so I can’t be saying it’s form in that way.
“And, if we’re honest, there’s a reason why we haven’t been giving him those minutes.
“I have had a long talk with him yesterday and I don’t want to breach that code of coach-player by giving out too much detail, but one of the big things is for him to look like he is enjoying his footy.
“We have had a talk about the reasons why and obviously a lot of that is trying to get him back into a space where he can be that player that’s going to get us around the park and do the stuff that we want him to do.
“I don’t feel like that’s been happening and I feel like at a certain point I have to change things.”
Well, for the first time in a while, the Wallabies seem to have a tiny bit more depth in their squad, with Kurtley Beale back in contention. However, it seems fair to say that with Quade now gone, Bernard Foley will be almost unchallenged for the Flyhalf position. Make of that what you will.
“With a bit of congestion now in the midfield players, with (Kurtley) Beale back and some of the options around the ten position, I decided that’s the way to go,” said Cheik.
Unfortunately, Cooper isn’t alone on this front, with fellow Queenslander Scott Higginbotham also omitted from the squad. In their place, Cheika has seemed to go with players who have been more consistent in terms of positive play and winning games. A notable inclusion is nine Force players off the back of their last successful fortnight at home.
Well, at least he’s selecting from our more successful teams. Oh, wait, he also selected ten Waratahs. Scratch that.
But, he is definitely doing for youth experience. Of the 39 players, 11 are uncapped.
The list of the rookies includes the likes of Curtis Rona, Sef Fa’agase, Adam Korczyk, Izack Rodda, Jordan Uelese, Campbell Magnay and Billy Meakes.
Rona’s inclusion is particularly notable one, because his is one of five former NRL stars in the squad. But hey, at least the bloke has shown his worth off the back of a good season with the Force.
While the Brumbies players are still to be selected for the squad, it seems clear though that Cheik may be going for a different approach to team selection this time around.
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Meanwhile, over at Tahs HQ…
Yeah, it’s been pretty quiet over here. But, after their worst season in their history, Tahs coach Daryl Gibson has instead turned to classroom teaching and motivational lessons to try and inspire the Waratahs for next year.
And it’s going to start by making them watch the Super Rugby final.
He hopes that the team will see how much effort they will need to put in to beat the best, and he hopes that it may instil a hungrier attitude for next year. He believes he has the team to do so, and was bolstered by the fact that the Tahs board had been incredibly supportive of him despite the team’s poor results. (Anyone feeling like we’ve been here before?)
“We’ll be starting pretty shortly that planning for next season in terms of the 2018 team,” Gibson said on Monday to Fox Sports.
“We plan to get them together in two weeks’ time to watch the final and to really see what else we have to do to transform ourselves, and see those two teams that are in the final.
“The sooner we start the sooner we can get on doing stuff.
“Most of our roster is in place now, I don’t see any reason why we should wait till January till the pre-season starts.
“We are striving to create four or five really strong senior leaders.”
On a more positive note, Gibson added the return of Kurtley Beale will be a major improvement for the club.
“I’m looking forward to getting back to the Tahs and helping these young kids,” Beale said on Monday.
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Eagles announce Coleman as coach
Speaking of the NRC, NSW Country Eagles officially became the third club to announce their coaching lineup for this years season, with current Warringah Rats coach Darren Coleman retaining his place to lead the Eagles for his fourth year.
Coleman certainly is a coach that has taken the Country Eagles places, with the boys from the Bush picking up the Horan-Little Shield, the Benn Robinson Bell and the minor premiership last year. However, they fell one short in picking up the Toast Rack, losing out to the Perth Spirit in the final.
Joining Coleman will be Forwards Coach Andrew Blades, Defence coach Shannon Fraser, Attack Coach Dan Parks, and Team Manager Pauli Taumoepeau. Oh yeah, and some bloke called Paddy Ryan will be back at the helm this year the Eagles captain. While he had a tough season with the Tahs, if he can bring back the form he brought during last year’s NRC season, we could see some seriously good rugby from this squad.
This is what the Eagles management had to say about Coleman:
Little needs to be said of Coleman’s coaching credentials. His stint as head coach of the Eagles has seen them become statistically one of the premier franchises in the competition. Minor premiers last season, Coleman will be keen to take the Eagles one step further in 2017.
He is currently in the middle of an extremely successful first season with NSW Shute Shield side the Warringah Rats, and has previously coached at Eastern Suburbs RUFC, L’Aquila in Italy, and the Toyota Shuttles in Japan.
The NRC fixtures are expected to be released in the coming weeks, with the competition kicking off in September this year.
Read the full press release here.
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