Tuesday’s rugby news has a Wallaby prop leaving Super Rugby, Larkham investing in junior development, the Sunwolves getting their act together and Richie McCaw making a movie.
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Holmes heading overseas
Exeter have signed Queensland Reds’ Australia prop Greg Holmes on a two-year contract from the summer of 2016. The 32-year-old has spent his entire career at the Reds, playing 130 times for the club in 11 years, while also earning 24 Test caps.
“Greg has been one of the Reds’ unsung heroes over the last decade and holds a special place within Queensland Rugby,” Queensland’s Executive General Manager Daniel Herbert. “He has helped inspire a new generation of Rugby fans this year as part of the Wallabies side that reached the Rugby World Cup final.”
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Sunwolves name coach
Former New Zealand hooker Mark Hammett has been unveiled as the head coach of Japan’s new Super Rugby side, the Sunwolves. Hammett coached the Wellington Hurricanes from 2011-14 in his first spell as a Super Rugby head coach.
Hammett inherits a list of 34 players that includes 15 with Test experience and 10 of the Brave Blossoms squad from the recent Rugby World Cup. Playing in a South African Conference alongside the Bulls, Cheetahs and Stormers, the Sunwolves start with four home games (two in Singapore).
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Larkham investing in juniors
Stephen Larkham is looking to place more of a focus in local talent at the Brumbies, proposing a stronger pathway from Canberra’s junior ranks to the Super Rugby franchise. Brumbies coaching and development manager Russell Ingram has already been working to instill the club’s playing structure and skills program into Canberra’s juniors.
“We lost our academy program in 2011 when we lost funding for that, we’ve been desperate to get it back,” Larkham said. “My dream is to get back to where the Brumbies first started which was 30 per cent of the squad was local.” The Brumbies currently boast seven players who made their way through Canberra’s junior representative ranks or club rugby.
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McCaw movie in the works
Richie McCaw will star in a movie about his last year as All Black captain, culminating in the All Blacks’ recent Rugby World Cup win. The movie, the working title of which is Richie McCaw, will hit theatres in 2016,
McCaw admits he’s never been one to talk up his achievements, but hopes the film will inspire his fans. “I was an ordinary kid who loved playing the game of rugby and had the dream of becoming an All Black,” he said. “I’ve never been big on talking about myself but I hope that by sharing my story, people might be able to find something in it to help them achieve what they really want to.”
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