Tuesdays Rugby News sees Mens Sevens win Silver, Kearns complains about the Jags, Naisarani re-signs, and new image sharing technology.
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AUSSIE MENS TAKE SILVER IN LONDON
The Aussie Mens Sevens team had a near perfect trip to London over the weekend as they made their first final since 2015 before falling short to Fiji in the final. 43-7 was the final score.
The Aussies had a strong showing in the finals defeating South Africa (29-22) and France (31-24) in the quarter finals and semi-final.
Despite their best efforts they were out classed by the dominant Fijian outfit.
After the event Mens coach Tim Walsh reflected on the weekend:
“Fiji were a class act in that final, showing again once they get momentum they are hard to stop and thoroughly deserve their victory here in London.
“We were really pleased to make the final but it showed that you must respect possession against top sides like Fiji or they will punish you.
“Our defence worked hard in the match, but to be winning those Cup Finals you have to be consistently asking questions will ball in hand, not just in defence.
“Having said that I am very proud of this side’s efforts this weekend to make the Cup Final. We have finally showed some of the potential we have seen flashes of across two days of Rugby and that now needs to be the standard of things to come moving forward.
“Maurice Longbottom was a class act all weekend and took his game to a new level in attack and defence. Lewis Holland’s leadership was crucial to this side’s success and it showed with how the wider group responded when we needed to show some character.
“Henry Hutchison and Josh Coward hit the line constantly at speed and they created opportunities around them with the way they threw themselves into each match.
“We’ll take some valuable lessons out of London and use that to get ready for Paris and the qualification battle to come later in the year.”
The men will head to Paris for the next leg of the tournament, where they currently sits in sixth position on 99 points, surpassing Samoa on 95 points.
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“ARGENTINA HAVE HOODWINKED SANZAAR”
Phil Kearns has taken aim at Argentinian Rugby claiming they “hoodwinked” SANZAAR and “shouldn’t even be in the comp.”
The former Wallaby and Waratah’s comments came shortly after NSW lost at home to the Jaguares on Saturday night.
Fox Sports’ rugby host Nick McArdle asked the question of how good the Jags were when Kearns took the opportunity to give his opinion.
“They’re the national team,” Kearns said on Fox Sports’ Super Saturday coverage.
“They shouldn’t even be in the comp.
“If you want national teams put them in a comp. But they are a national team.”
“Totally. This is a provincial competition. Have a provincial team in it, that’s what it’s about. It’s not about having national teams being in it,” Kearns said.
“I think Argentina have been incredibly smart and have hoodwinked the rest of SANZAAR because they’re going to have a magnificent World Cup team there’s no doubt about it — they’ve played together for the last three years.”
There would be credibility to the argument that one side had essentially their national team, had Kearns not made them immediately after the Waratahs lost to them.
If you look at the 2014 winning Waratah’s how many Wallabies were in that side, or the 2011 Reds, or the 2001/04 Brumbies. All of those teams had past and present Wallabies in them, many even had Wallaby greats.
36 players from the Jaguares have been selected in Argentina’s 46-man preliminary World Cup training squad, which will eventually become 31 players.
Wallaby great Mark Ella suggested that the Jaguares would be better served in an Americas competition rather than Super Rugby.
“When SANZAR became SANZAAR with the admission of Argentina the travel burden became ridiculous,” Ella wrote in his column for the Weekend Australian.
“The Rugby Championship and Super Rugby now circle the globe and are played on every continent in the southern hemisphere. No other sporting teams in any competition anywhere in the world endure the epic road trips of southern hemisphere rugby nations.
“In Super Rugby, the Jaguares play in the South African conference, their nearest neighbour, yet it is still 8000km from Buenos Aires to Johannesburg. It just adds to the sense that Argentina are not where they belong.”
There is merit to the question regarding a team made up of essentially nationally capped players, and begs the question would the Sunwolves have been better if they built around their national side. Or how it would look if SANZAAR gave Argentina a second Super Rugby side to even distribute the talent.
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NISARANI SETTLES IN
The Melbourne Rebels announced the re-signing of one of their standout players on Monday night, with Isi Naisarani committing to the club and Australian Rugby until the end of 2021.
The 24 year old Fijian born No.8 had a break out NRC year in 2016 that earned him a contract with the Western Force. When the Force were cut from Super Rugby Naisarani joined the Brumbies for a year before ultimately joining the Rebels in 2019.
Reuniting with former Force coach Dave Wessels was a big factor for Isi joining Melbourne, where he has played 10 matches so far.
After three different Super clubs in three years, Naisarani said he was happy to have found a home to settle down in.
“I’ve loved my time here at Melbourne so far,” Naisarani said.
“Having spent my first three years in Super Rugby at three different Clubs, I feel that settling down here is the right choice, and the Rebels will give me the best chance of developing my rugby further.
“I feel like we’re also building a special group of players here in Melbourne and under the guidance of Dave (Wessels), I also feel like we are capable of achieving results which can push us into finals beyond this year.”
Naisarani has played a massive role at the Rebels adding weight and height at the set piece and speed and strength around the pitch.
As of April this year Naisarani is eligible to play for the Wallabies.
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has been a fan of Naisarani’s for a while, even taking him on the spring tour last years as a development player. Cheika said he was impressed by Isi’s work ethic and his constant improvement.
“I’m really pleased for Isi and for Australian Rugby that he’s committed for another two years,” he said.
“He’s an exciting prospect for us and from speaking to him, he’s clearly very passionate about his team mates and about Australian rugby.
“He’s a talented player for sure, but one thing that impresses me about Isi is his personal commitment to bettering himself as a player, asking questions and not being afraid to make a mistake in order to learn from it.”
Rebels general manager of professional rugby and pathways, Nick Ryan, said Naisarani would be a pivotal part of the Melbourne outfit moving forward.
“Isi is an exceptionally hard-working member of the playing group, and in our eyes, has proven himself as one of the best number eights’ in the competition,” Ryan said.
“We thoroughly believe Isi is a big part of our Club going forward and we can’t wait to help support and nurture his rugby development.
“Him re-signing is a testament to our on-field department for developing a world-class high-performance program which retains high quality talent such as Isi.”
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FOXCLIPS: NEW IMAGE SHARING TECHNOLOGY
Have you ever been watching a live rugby match and seen an image or a clip and wish there was an easy way to take that image and put it out there, on the line? well now you can with FOX Clips.
FOX Clips is an innovation from FOX SPORTS and Rugby Australia that allows fans to image share rugby moments from their TV to their friends. This allows users to create and share clips during a live broadcast, something that hasn’t been available before.
The proprietary image recognition technology recognises what you are watching and turns it into a clip for you to share. Currently it can only be used during a Rugby broadcast on a FOX SPORTS during live match, replay or magazine program. You could be watching FOX SPORTS on your TV at home or the pub, on your computer or device.
Users must be using Rugby Xplorer to access the technology.
“Fox Clips is yet another way that the Rugby Xplorer App brings fans closer to the game” said Adam Freier, Rugby Australia’s Head of Marketing and Digital. “Every fan has a unique perspective on the game and now they can share that with other fans using the Rugby Xplorer App and Fox Clips”
“We’re always looking at new ways to enhance the fan experience,” said FOXSPORTS Head of Digital Brad Schultz. “FOX Clips is yet another innovation bringing our audience closer to the sports that they love by giving them full control of the experience from TV to mobile to social media.”
The patent pending technology, was developed by Snapscreen Application GmbH in Austria and has been licensed to FOX SPORTS by Snapscreen Australia.
“Snapscreen is delighted to continue our partnership with FOX SPORTS to support its relationship with Rugby Australia and bring this world first solution to rugby fans,” says Thomas Willomitzer, Founder and CEO of Snapscreen.
The technology will be unveiled during this weekends round of Super Rugby.
Download Rugby Xplorer on iOS or Android to get snapping then share your clips with all of your social tools including Facebook, Twitter, Messenger, WhatsApp, SMS and email.
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