Tuesday’s Rugby News has Dane Coles scared of the WBs scrum, Adam Coleman wanting some action, Toby Faletau out of the RWC for Wales, and lingering tension in WA. Also England’s losing in the cricket. Rah!
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Coles Quaking In His Boots
Resident dickhead Dane Coles is scared of the Wallabies scrum, according to rugby.com.au.
“They gave the Pumas a bit of a touch up eh,” said Coles.
“I think it is coming down to they’ve adjusted to that new law better than other teams, and I thought their bench was good when they come on too. They caused a bit of damage with their front row.
“And our game we weren’t too flash, we got pushed over the ball a couple of times by the Boks. So we need to do a bit of work there. They have a pretty experienced front row and obviously the bench came on and did a job as well.
“We need to adapt a bit better and be a bit sharper, to stay in the game.”
Fresh from a game where both teams drop lots of pill and he acted like a wrong un’, again, Coles reckons there’s still a bit of rustiness around the ABs.
“If you look at those first two games, there are a lot of guys who haven’t played rugby for a while. I think especially in the first half of those games, our skill sets were terrible,” he said.
“We dropped a lot of pill. We can blame it on a bit of rust but there is an expectation you have to go out there and perform. Little things like that.
“We got some good learnings from our defence side and our attack side, form the review.
“Without giving too much away, you own your skill sets and then tempering our attack plan and our defence plans, we can hopefully … well we have to to better, because if we play like that from the last few weeks it’s going to be a tough old day.”
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Coleman Wants In
After spending most of the season out injured – including a scapula broken against the Crusaders in June – Adam Coleman is hopeful Michael Cheika will pick him on Saturday.
“Obviously I’d love to play this week but I’ve got to get through a week of training with the boys and just put my best foot forward,” Coleman said to rugby.com.au. “The other locks are really playing well. Isaac and Rory and Simmo off the bench, they’re really competing and putting on good performances.
“It’s exciting to see the depth in Australian rugby and just to see the guys competing. There’s so much competition within the squad not only in the locks but throughout various positions now. It’s getting to that crunch time where selections are going to have to be very tough for Cheik and that’s a good thing for Australian rugby.”
With Izack Rodda, Rory “Gutcrusha” Arnold and Rob Simmons being a trusted trio so far against the Saffers and the Argies, Coleman is hoping Cheika will go back to his old ways and pick a new Lock of the Week every week.
“It’s a great opportunity to make sure I keep improving as a player but also just keep competition. I can’t say it enough – competition at training goes a long way onto playing on the weekend,” Coleman said.
“I know if my body is right and I’m enjoying my time in camp my football goes a long way.
“I love competition at the highest level and against the best. Seeing the boys perform last week really gave me that itch to get back in the squad and fight for a gold jersey again.”
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Toby Faletau Out
Welsh no. 8, Taulupe “Toby” Faletau, has been ruled out of the World Cup in a yuuuuuge boost to the Wallabies’ chances to get knocked out in the quarter-final.
Wales are in the same group as the Wallabies this World Cup. Fiji, Georgia and Uruguay make up the other members of Group D.
ESPN reports that the rampaging forward broke his collar bone in training, late last week.
“The injury was sustained in an innocuous training ground incident and will require surgery,” read a brief statement from the WRU. “A prognosis and return to play timeframe will be established after surgery.
“The Wales squad and management would like to wish Taulupe the very best with his recovery.”
The forward, capped 70 times by Wales since 2011, missed out on last years November tests and this years Six Nations due to breaking his arm – twice.
He played in all three Tests for the British and Irish Lions.
Before flying off to Japan, Wales will play home and away games with England and Ireland in August as warm-up matches.
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The Past Is Not Even Past
It’s been two years since the Wallabies played in Perth. You’re not really faulted for not remembering, it was that crab juice of 23-all draw against South Africa.
The game on the weekend is the first since then, and the SMH reports that in the air there’s still a bit of angst, like a teenager’s musk.
Local icon and husband of frequent G&GR commenter Jody, Matt Hodgson has told the SMH that while rugby is still strong in WA* there will always be that feeling of sadness about what has happened.
“Rugby is strong in Western Australia but there will always be that feeling of sadness about what has happened,” Hodgson said.
“It’s a combination of things. It’s difficult to put into words. To have something taken away from you is pretty difficult, especially when we were doing some positive things here. Everyone is excited though to be part of a sell-out crowd on Saturday and hopefully that results in a win for the Wallabies.
“Players always wanted a pathway and for a while there was a bit of an unknown of playing football in Perth wondering what is next. Now with the establishment of Rapid Rugby we’re actually showing a pathway.”
*The SMH article also says “according to RugbyWA’s 2018 annual report, released in June, participation rates had reduced by 20 per cent in senior and eight per cent in junior leagues. The organisation also said it was trying to negotiate a $1 million debt bailout from the state government.”
Rugby figures in the west feel the jury is still out on whether RA has done enough to support rugby in the state over the past two years.
Former Force bruiser Adam Coleman, fresh from telling the press how much he wanted to play and stuff and get sin binned for doing something stupid (ok he maybe didn’t say that last one), also shared his feelings on the Force getting forked.
“It is something that is always going to be there and it was a tough day for everyone in Western Australia but you have to move forward,” Coleman said. “If you are lingering too much in the past it can weigh you down a little bit. The Force are still here in a different aspect, just not in Super Rugby.”
“The turnout was unreal,” Coleman continued, talking about a fan day the Wallabies held. “It was good to see some of my family here and some familiar faces. The Force fans always come out and see us.”
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