Tuesday’s Rugby News sees the Wallabies sail to Waiheke, Coleman looks to rectify broken lineout, timely return for the Wallaroos and the Force naming their NRC squad.
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Wounded Wallabies set sail for Waiheke
After a less than satisfactory performance in the first Bledisloe test against New Zealand, Michael Cheika is banking on a sea change in order to change the Wallabies fortunes before their second test at fotress Eden Park.
The coach has booked the side into Waikehe Island Resort, a 40 minutes ferry ride outside of Auckland, in an attempt to revitalise his wounded players and try and remove them from the inevitable media hounding and scrutiny.
Unlike Cheika’s previous unique attempts to fire up his side, notoriously bringing out a golf club before the Waratahs Grand Final victory in 2014, there were no particular rhythm or reason for this decision, just a simple change of scenery and routine.
“There’s no magic pill here … I just thought we’d stay somewhere a bit different. It’s all about training well, preparing well, in the mindset, and also for our footy,” Cheika said.
“I’ve never been there myself so I don’t know. I just thought there’s a footy field there, there’s a gym there, it’s something different for the lads, [so we can] get into our work straight away and get the disappointment of yesterday out of our system.”
“Understand that we’ve got to own what we need to own out of that game and then get on with doing what we can do to get a win this week.”
Meanwhile, Chieka has refused to speculate on who will replace Israel Folau at fullback, with Jack Maddocks and Tom Banks seemingly the two main contenders for the position.
“I thought he (Maddocks) did OK when he went on out there,” Cheika said after the first test. “I haven’t had a good look at it, but he wouldn’t have been on the bench if we didn’t think he was ready to play.
“So he played tonight and got a few touches, which was good, I think he got a try as well. We’ve also got Tom Banks who has been with the squad and is an out-and-out fullback, so we’ll see where we end up with it.”
Who do you think should get the position GAGR readers? Or should Chieka look outside of the box and shift Haylett-Petty or Beale back into the 15 jersey and rearrange the backline?
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Caller Coleman looks to rectify faulty lineout
I think its fair to say that one of the most disappointing areas of the Wallabies game on the weekend was the Wallabies horrifically inconsistent lineout.
It’s been revealed that it was the worst that has been ever recorded by Fox Sports, with the Wallabies losing 8 out their 12 attacking line outs.
And with efforts like this it’s easy to see how this happened, and second rower and line out caller Adam Coleman is looking to rectify the issue before Saturday’s second test.
“It’s something that we’ve spoken about going into the first game, not wanting to be hurt to respond,” Coleman said. “We’ve been hurt now, so now we’re going to respond.”
“I enjoy that responsibility of making sure we do set a good platform and when we don’t obviously it weighs heavily on my head, after the game and in the game,” Coleman said.
“But you really need to start thinking about the next job and keep moving forward. Our whole forward pack are looking at ourselves hard, making sure we don’t brush over things, making sure we address the problem so we can improve.”
Thankfully, Coleman notes that a painful and embarrassing review session has offered up encouraging notes for the side to work on.
“Our thought process was fine it was more in the execution of the skill that let us down,” he said. “In each lineout, it was one little thing. A lift, a jump, our spacing, our throw. It wasn’t a single thing that was re-occurring all the time. The pleasing thing is that if we all do our own individual role we will improve drastically in that area.”
These issues were also noted by George Gregan after the match who believed that a lack of movement and predetermined calls before the lineout was detrimental to the side’s performance.
“It looked like there were a bit of timing concerns with the lineout,” Gregan said. “They just weren’t getting to the top of the jump and they had (Brodie) Retallick and obviously the centurion Sam Whitelock getting up quite a lot and getting that ball, and incorrect spacing.”
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Wallaroos receive timely boost
With the Wallabies set to take on the All Blacks in the second test without their influential back Israel Folau, it’s nice to hear that the women national rugby side will be boosted by a return of their inspirational centre Sarah Riordan.
The Wallaroos vice-captain is set to return to the side after being ruled out of the Sydney Test against the Black Ferns after rolling her ankle in a freak training accident just three days out from the match.
Riordan appears to be out of her moon boot and ahead of schedule in her recovery from the injury and Wallaroos forwards coach Matt Tink praised the miracle work of their team physio in giving her a huge change to play in the second match.
“We were calling our physio ‘Jesus Christ’ last night through his healing hands,” he said. “She’s progressing better than we thought. She’s not definitely cleared to play yet but she’s making huge progress.”
This inclusion would be huge for an inexperienced and young Wallaroos side that were convincing beat 31-11 with Tink refusing to dwell on the performance, rather drawing on the positives from the tough encounter and moving ahead with their preparation for the second test.
“We conceded three maul tries and we only won 50 per cent of our lineout ball, but it was pleasing to me how personally the girls took that,” he said.
“They were disappointed in that performance, they’re stunned by that and I guess collectively as a coach and as a group, we’re hurting a little bit from that. Our real focus for us will just be providing good set ball and fixing our maul defence.”
Tink believed that the step up to Test rugby taught their new faces valuable lessons and they would have to step up their performance this week in order to be competitive.
“The comments have been made everything happened a lot quicker than Super W so our reaction to things will need to improve,” he said. “But our ability to see things happen a bit early will probably be a by-product of that Test match.”
The Wallaroos will again compete in a doubleheader with the two sides kicking off at 3pm before the men’s clash at Eden Park and hopefully they are able draw from their performance in the first test and cause an upset.
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Force maintain strong squad for NRC tilt
The Western Force has announced their squad for their inaugural National Rugby Championship season, replacing the Perth Spirit as the Western Australian representation in the competition.
The side will be familiar to those who have followed the Force’s quest during the World Series Rugby, retaining the majority of the players from that squad and being captained by halfback Ian Prior.
The side is also stacked full of homegrown talent, with Sheldon Tarawa and Lachlan Valentine rewarded for their strong performances for Joondalup Brothers and Associates this year.
The fascinating selection is former Force player and Wallabies flyer Dane Haylett-Petty, who returns to the west after moving to the Rebels following their axe from Super Rugby
Haylett-Petty is the only ex-Force player to return for the NRC squad and he looks to maintain his commitment to the Force and WA rugby
“I am really excited for the opportunity to play back in Perth in front of friends and family,” Haylett-Petty said.
“Watching on from Melbourne, they’re doing great things growing the game and creating a pathway from community rugby through to professional level.
“I’m looking forward to getting back when I’m not involved with the Wallabies. It gives me a chance to stay involved with rugby in WA and give back in whatever capacity I can.”
Having played together for the majority of the yeat, I think this side has the capacity to be a serious contender and they will play with a real purpose to prove a definite point that they did not deserve to be axed and symbolically excommunicated from Australia rugby.
The squad is as followed:
AJ Alatimu, Marcel Brache, Masivesi Dakuwaqa, Rod Davies, Andrew Deegan, Tevin Ferris, Issak Fines, Josh Furno, Benjamin Grant, Peter Grant, Dane Haylett-Petty, Jack Hardy, Chris Heiberg, Rodney Iona, Feleti Kaituu, Maalonga Konelio, Brad Lacey, Fergus Lee-Warner, Harrison Lloyd, Kieran Longbottom, Jack McGregor, Cameron Orr, Harrison Orr, George Pisi, Leon Power, Ian Prior(c), Harry Scoble, Tom Sheminant, Brynard Stander, Henry Stowers, Sheldon Tarawa, Henry Taefu, Heath Tessmann, Jeremy Thrush, Carlo Tizzano, Elliot Tuner, Clay Uyen, Lachlan Valentine, Markus Vanzati
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