Thursday’s rugby news has a motivated Reds side, Foley juggling contracts, Luke Jones stepping up and Kaino out with a concussion.
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Reds keen to prove Larkham wrong
Queensland backrower Jake Schatz has conceded that his team were stung by Stephen Larkham’s criticism of their round one performance, emphasising that the Reds would be ready and motivated on Saturday. Larkham declared the Reds were not “up to the standard of Super Rugby” following their 47-3 demolition of a hapless Reds.
“We know we’re better than that and we know that for us to turn up we can certainly use that as motivation and turn it around in a week,” Schatz said. The team will be boosted by the likely return of James Horwill who missed last week with back spasms.
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Overseas Wallabies set
Bernard Foley will become the first ‘overseas-based’ Wallaby, with the five-eighth poised to sign a Waratahs contract along with his two-year deal to join a Japanese club after the World Cup. It appears that Michael Cheika has convinced Foley to stay in NSW during the Japanese off-season.
The more flexible contract is one of the more creative tactics that Cheika has employed to keep hold of Australian stars. “It’s a slightly more aggressive strategy, but that’s what we need to do otherwise we are just going to sit here and the same thing is going to keep happening,” he said.
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Jones with expanded role
Luke Jones will become the youngest player to play 50 Super Rugby games for the Rebels when the versatile forward faces the Western Force on Friday. After starting his career as a flanker, Jones has grown into his lock position at the Rebels, making his Wallabies debut against France at Etihad Stadium last year.
He will enter Friday’s match with much greater responsibility, given the role of line-out caller this year. Jones’ set-piece work against NSW Waratahs caught the eye of Wallabies coach Michael Cheika earlier in the season. “He said they couldn’t get up in our line outs and we did well in exploiting them there,” Jones said.
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Kaino to miss Hurricanes match
The beleaguered Blues have lost captain Jerome Kaino to concussion in a major blow ahead of their match against the Hurricanes. Kaino failed a concussion test the day after last weekend’s 13-10 loss to the Lions at Albany, resulting in an automatic stand-down for Friday’s game .
It is a sizeable setback for the last-placed Blues, whose 0-4 win-loss record has placed tremendous pressure on coach Sir John Kirwan. Kaino’s No.8 berth will go to Steven Luatua, who shifts from the blindside flank. Fellow flanker Luke Braid will assume the captaincy.
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