Thursday’s rugby news has Horwill opening up, Irish praise for building Wallabies, Stephen Moore looking to change perceptions and another nail for the Heineken Cup coffin.
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Horwill wants captaincy back
Deposed Wallabies skipper James Horwill has opened up about his axing two weeks ago, asserting that he was surprised, disappointed and would love to regain the captaincy from Ben Mowen. But the 45 Test second-rower also understood that his form was lacking and that the blow had helped him improve his game.
With the Wallabies’ dismal record of late, Horwill felt he was guilty of paying too much attention to the team’s problems instead of his own performance. ‘[Losing the captaincy] allowed me to be selfish in my preparations and worry about the way I need to prepare physically and mentally to get right to play,’ Horwill said. [/one_half]
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Irish wary of ‘sleeping’ Wallabies
Ireland defence coach Les Kiss has characterised the current Australian team as a sleeping animal that is about to roar back to life, praising the attacking improvement and surprise selections of Ewen Mckenzie, despite a negative record. ‘They are waking up slowly but surely, so we’ve got to be careful,’ Kiss said, also adding, ‘I think they’re in a better place than people give them credit for.’
Ireland fullback Rob Kearney has also vaunted the Wallabies improvement, although basically by default, after unveiling the disregard held by Lions players throughout the recent tour. ‘During the Lions tour they were pretty poor,’ Kearney said, emphasising that the hosts had ‘no clue’ what they were doing. [/one_half]
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Moore looks to shake wet-weather perceptions
Wallaby hooker Stephen Moore has insisted that the Australian team are not wet-weather duds, but understands that the only way to shift this prevailing perception is to defeat Ireland in the forecasted poor conditions at Aviva Stadium on Sunday. Australia have recently struggled in the wet against the All Blacks in New Zealand and also suffered a shock loss to Scotland in poor conditions last year. ‘The only way you put that (reputation) right is through results and performance,’ Moore said.
While both new coaches Joe Schmidt and Ewen Mckenzie are trying to build expansive attacking teams, Moore has assured fans, ‘It’s going to be a tight contest in terms of close quarters.’ This will require a strong breakdown, set-piece and field position performance from the Wallabies. [/one_half]
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Heineken Cup has left the station
Premiership Rugby chief Mark McCafferty has insisted that European rugby’s new club competition is a ‘train that has left the station.’ Although Ireland, Scotland and Italy are still hoping that negotiations can save the existing Heineken Cup competition, McCafferty has said that there was no going back. ‘It’s sorted. It’s just a question of which teams want to join. Everyone has to make their own decision,’ McCerty said yesterday.
The breakaway competition was initially conceived from the dissatisfaction among the England and French leagues over the perceived unfairness of both the Heineken qualification criteria, which they claimed favoured the Celtic nations, as well as the distribution of income. Last month the Welsh regions came on board, just about sealing the fate of the Heineken Cup. [/one_half]
