Tuesday’s Rugby News has Hodge in a podge, Cheika’s weird pep-talk, Pool D news and – ha ha ha! – Folau being an idiot.
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Hodge Podge
Michael Cheika is unhappy with Fiji’s decision to cite stodging’s Reece Hodge for a bad tackle.
After a game, either team can ask the disciplinary committee to check out any specific incidents. The discplinary committee doesn’t have to agree with the view of the team raising the complaints, they can reject them, but this time the committee dude whoever he is agreed that Hodge’s bumped off tackle of Peceli Yato met the red card threshold.
After the tackle, Yato was pulled off for a concussion test having been knocked out.
Citing is not a thing Cheika does – see Douglas, Kane, being eye-gouged at a maul by Plucky Little New Zealand.
“Probably the most disappointing thing was the Fijians.,” Cheika said in Tokyo (via rugby.com.au)
“I think after the game we had a lot of friendly discussion with myself and the coach, he talked to our other coaches, there was no mention of anything and then to get a referral and the way it was referred.
“Especially, that was really disappointing, I don’t find that, the way that they brought that, in the spirit of the game at all, which is something you know from Fiji.
“The coaching staff, I was really quite surprised with they way they brought their own referral post-match.
“That would’ve been a little disappointing from a spirit of rugby point of view. I prefer they come up to me and get upset with me, if they were really upset about it, not to then talk to me in that nice sort of friendly chitty chat way and then put in a referral, don’t think I’ve ever referred anyone.”
At the time, during the game, both the referee and TMO were happy that Hodge’s tackle was legitimate.
If you’d like to know what it looked like, check out the video here. Ain’t no way I’m paid enough to describe it.
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Keep Gambling
Cheika says the one yuuuuuge change he’s made to make his opponents LOSERS is to turn the Wallabies’ attack from sad! to unpredictable.
“I got to admit, when we first came together this start of the year and started talking about playing this way and there was a lot of blank looks especially from the playmakers because they’re so used to calling everything we know, pre-calling everything,” he said, not talking to himself but to rugby.com.au.
“It’s been a bit of a running joke, if we don’t know what we’re doing then the opposition’s no chance of knowing what we’re doing, it’s a bit of an inside joke but a certain amount of unpredictability is good for us and good for the game.
“Yeah, we got a few maul tries on the weekend but then you saw the try at the back end of the game and made some other nice breaks inside of the game as well, got a lot of half-passes coming from the nine now, but not all of them are being made by the halfback.
“We’re just trying to play a bit more up tempo and I know they’ll be, when I coached in Europe, Leinster, Munster, different styles of football, both teams very passionate about their style and both styles were very successful. It’s just about who you are.”
So, um, the point of that is that when Australia face Wales, they’ll play different styles. Every game they’ve played since 2009, according to the article, has been won by single figures.
“It’s pretty simple and we want to keep building on that (unpredictable style), we want to try – obviously we’re coming up against one of the best defences in World Rugby on Sunday, so that’ll be a challenge and about where we want to attack,” Cheika said, sounding like the PA at a casino.
“They’re a very good defending team Wales, you saw last game, I don’t think there was a try, there was no try at all, we didn’t score and they didn’t score in the game in Cardiff, so we know that it’s going to take a certain amount of perseverance to be able to break their wall.”
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Group D Watch
Last night, Group D pals Wales and Georgia had a crack at each other, with Wales coming out on top 43-14.
Wales started strongly, in a manner similar to Ireland. They took a 29-0 lead to halftime.
However, Georgia gathered some steam, scoring two tries and getting on top of the Wales scrum. That’s not really surprising for a nation that has about a dozen props playing in England and France’s top leagues.
“We came out of the blocks as we wanted in the first half,” Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones said, according to Fox Sports.
“”We’re probably going to be a bit disappointed, if I’m honest, with the second half, we let a couple of tries in, we didn’t really continue in a similar vein.
“It’s a good result, but there’s plenty to work on.”
His coach, Warren Gatland, agreed.
“We were pretty happy at half time, a little bit messy in the second half but the ball was quite slippery out there and it was hard to hold onto it. We scored a few nice tries and happy with the bonus point,” Gatland said.
“Australia’s going to be tough and it’s going to be a big game.
“We’ve got a couple of days off and then we’ve got to plan and have a couple of good days training before that Australian game.”
The Wallabies play Wales on Sunday 29 September, and Georgia on 5 October.
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Folau Folly
Local joke Israel Folau has – hahaha – announced that – hehehe – he will play, with his brother, for Tonga’s Rugby League side.
“I’m so grateful to have the opportunity to represent God, my family, my heritage and the people of Tonga. I am thankful that the RLIF have accepted my availability to play,” Folau said in a TNRL media release (via Fox Sports).
“I don’t want to bring any of my personal matters into this and I am grateful that the RLIF have endorsed my availability.
“What I will do now is focus on playing great rugby league and do my talking on the field.”
Tonga is set to play against Australia and Great Britain next year, in New Zealand, in games organised by the Rugby League International Federation. As he’s been barred for playing for the NRL, Folau wouldn’t be able to play in the International NRL 9s, the non-union Mexican equivalent of the Sydney Rugby 7s, organised by the NRL. However, the RLIF hasn’t yet barred Folau from playing.
However – hohoho – it turns out that there may be a catch and or several catches. NRL chairman Peter Beattie is deputy prez of the RLIF.
“The Rugby League International Federation is aware of a media release issued by Tonga National Rugby League stating that Israel Folau has been ‘approved’ by the RLIF to represent Tonga in international matches,” the RLIF said in a statment.
“That statement is incorrect, the RLIF has not been formally asked to consider this matter. The RLIF will not be commenting further on this situation at this stage.”
In other words – it’s likely Folau will find it hard to play in RLIF events.
Tee hee – Tongan coach Frank Endacott also had no idea about Folau’s recruitment, telling The Australian “Apparently he has been speaking to Tongan officials, but I am unaware of it.”
On top of that – ah ah ah – is that the Tonga RL is currently facing a player boycott due to allegations of a dodgy administration.
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RUGBY WORLD CUP FIXTURES TODAY:
Group A – Russia vs Samoa
805pm East Coast Elite / 735pm SA / 605pm WA
