Tuesday’s Rugby News has a full update on the Women’s 7s Oceania championship, reactions to the weekend’s results, a look toward the next round of matches, and beyond, and we check in the latest from the RWC repechage.
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Where There’s a Will, (He’ll Say) There’s a Way
A month ago, Will Genia made the very public statement that Australia would certainly get the better of Argentina in their final clash of the Rugby Championship.
And at half time there were more than a few who felt his claim may have been a little too bold as the Wallabies floundered and everything Argentina touched turned to gold. The rest of that match will go down in history (really though, in this information age, doesn’t everything go down in history?) as Australia rallied in the second half claiming a famous victory.
Spurred on by his previous crystal ball efforts, the Aussie scrum half has this time made an even bolder statement, declaring the side capable of winning next year’s world cup.
Now, I’m not in the business of plagiarising the fine work other rugby writers do, but for context this is the whole exchange as reported on rugby.com.au,
Asked about the resilience required to turn this season into a winning World Cup, Genia said he had every confidence in the side.
“Yes. I’m a true believer,” he said.
He followed up that statement by adding what he thought would make a difference for the team in the upcoming matches,
“I love the fact that we feel like we’re growing in that belief as a group. We’re working hard on things that are important in terms of consistency, effort and excellence during training.
“I’ll believe until the end, 100 per cent.”
The statement overshadowed the announcement that the Wallabies’ search for a new sports drink sponsor had come to an end, after they announced a new agreement with American brand, Kool-Aid.
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Women’s 7s On the Build
It was pointed out to me in the comments of yesterday’s news that the Aussie Women’s 7s deserved a bigger wrap for their efforts in knocking off current world champions New Zealand to take home gold in the Oceania 7s tournament held in Fiji over the weekend.
A replay of all the second day’s matches can be found here and the women’s final kicks off around 8.54.00. (Don’t be put off by the livestream.hackyourcomputer.justkidding.exe link address, it’s hosted by Vimeo)
So here we go.
The Aussies triumphed not over their opposition in fantastic display (the defensive effort in the final was nek level) but they did it without a lot of their core players.
Lifting the trophy was a team that only boasted three of their regulars (in the squad of 12) with the remainder of the places being filled by the up and coming stars fresh off the Aon Uni 7s.
The experience can’t come at a better time for them. After finishing fifth at the Colorado leg the team will want to improve when the next round kicks off on the 29th of this month in Dubai and the side could be without many of their regulars. Shannon Parry, Emma Tonegato, Demi Hayes and Alicia Quirk could all be missing and it will be up to the new kids on the block to step up in this all-important Olympic qualification year.
The brilliant performances weren’t lost on coach John Manenti,
“To get through day one without a point getting scored against them, and getting one hundred odd points and beating Fiji which was nearly a World Series strength team showed a lot of character,” he said.
“It was great for them to have that experience and great for them to win so I’m really proud of them.”
All of Australia are.
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International Banter Heats Up
Not to be outdone by Genia’s claim (see above), it seems every other team playing this weekend has come out to make their own bizarre statements.
We’ll start with Steve Hanson and his forecast, “I’m assuming Conor Murray will play”, this is of course in direct contrast to the last five months, where Conor Murray has NOT played.
While not putting the kybosh on Hanson’s statement entirely, coach Joe Schmidt has taking a bit more of a gently-gently approach with his star scrummie, taking a moment to explain the decision not to even name him in the squad,
“It was to take the pressure off him,” Schmidt said.
“There is no compulsion for him to push himself forward and into the frame unless he is super comfortable.”
Meanwhile, down the road (look, the UK is tiny compared to Australia so I make no apologies for referring to places being “down the road”) English coach, Eddie Jones, has implored his opponents this week to get spiritual as he looks to put the Brave Blossoms away, “Pray, pray, pray. Go to the temple and pray. Just pray, it’s the best thing. We’re going to be absolutely ruthless,” Jones said.
And added, “If I was Japan, I’d be worried. I wish we were playing tomorrow. We want to smash them, physically smash them.”
Jeez Eddie, who hurt you?
The odd one out in all of this has been Scottish coach, Gregor Townsend, who took the opportunity to neither boast about their crushing victory last week nor to make a mockery of their upcoming opponent, South Africa.
Instead saying, “the players are very aware that next week is a huge step up.
“South Africa you could argue are in the best two or three teams in the world given their recent form. They’ve beaten New Zealand once and could have done it a second time.”
Way to both ruin my article and keep it classy.
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RWC Repechage Profile: Canada
19 of 20 teams for the 2020 Rugby World Cup have been decided and it’s down to the next two weekends to figure out who the 20th team to qualify will be.
Last week we had a look at Germany’s unlikely road to the repechage and this week we’ll dig around the archives and bring you up to speed on the Canadian team.
The British influence over modern Canadian life spilled into the sport arena with the country’s first recorded rugby fixture taking place in 1874 between McGill university and some joint called Harvard, although quite how the game played out and its resemblance to the modern game are probably open for interpretation, but let’s not ruin a good story with fact.
Canada weren’t anointed a test-playing nation until 1932 when they sent a team to play two tests against Japan, losing both. It took the side another 45 years to finally record a win, downing their neighbours USA, 17 points to 6.
Things got a little better from there and by 1987 it was seen fit to invite them to the inaugural World Cup where they finished with a lone win over Tonga and in 1991, they even managed to make their way to the quarter-finals.
For the first time ever though, the Canuks could potentially miss out altogether. After drawing the first leg of the Americas 1 play-off they were dismantled by the Eagles in the return fixture and faced Uruguay to battle it out for the Americas 2 spot.
A devastating come from behind win by Uruguay in the second match saw Canada relegated to the current repechage tournament alongside Ze Germans, the Kenyans and the Hong Konese (yes, that’s really the demonym, I checked).
It’s started well for the Canuks, they put away Kenya 65-19 and their fate rests on their performances against Germany on 17/11 and finally, Hong Kong on 23/11.
Tune in next week as we have a gander at another of the repechage contenders.
Remember, the winner not only secures a spot in Pool B but will also be officially designated everyone’s second team.
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