Tuesday’s rugby news has the Brumbies pleasing fans, the Tahs facing a horror schedule, ACT showing a bright future and another Wallaby heading overseas.
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Brumbies tickets go half-price
The Brumbies will try to draw fans to the traditionally lowly-attended matchup with the Cheetahs this Easter long-weekend with half-price tickets. The Brumbies average almost 1000 fewer fans than their 13,387 per game average when hosting South African teams, with management hoping to offset this ambivalence with their price-cut.
The preperation of the Brumbies will be hampered by the 12 missing players in camp with the Wallabies until Tuesday night. “We have one less training session this week … You’d be lying if you said it wasn’t a disruption,” said Brumbies assistant coach Dan McKellar, before emphasising that many fringe Test players will be motivated by their non-selection.
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Tahs face non-stop schedule
After this week’s bye, the Waratahs are faced with the prospect of playing a record 13 back-to-back games if they make the title-deciding final. This tough schedule would include travel to and from New Zealand and South Africa, while five of their 10 games before the finals are away.
Coach Michael Cheika was not fussed by this schedule, emphasising that the players will have their recovery and workload closely monitored to sustain their run into the finals. “We’ll just pick two (weeks) and give the guys a chance to mentally step back as well as physically so they can be fresh for the run,” Cheika said. The Waratahs climbed to within two points of Australian conference leaders the Brumbies with their hard-fought 23-11 win over the Blues on Saturday.
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Junior Brumbies win title
The Junior Brumbies side has won the Gold Cup under 17s title for the first time in a decade, with five-eighth Mack Hansen converting a 45-metre penalty with four minutes on the clock to give the ACT side a 17-15 victory over Western Australia.
Under-17s coach Paul Simonsson has backed many of his team to go onto higher rugby honours, saying, “It’s a real blessing for the Brumbies going forward that a few of these boys can play their way into junior sides and then into Super Rugby down the track.” In the under 15s, Western Australia came out on top of ACT 29-24. [/one_half]
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McCalman departure a near-deal
Western Force number 8 Ben McCalman is set to join Wycliff Palu and Scott Higginbotham in Japan after the World Cup, which could leave a serious lack of depth in the Australian back-row. There remains some hope that McCalman is able to secure an ARU deal which would allow him to play in Japan but return to play next year’s Super Rugby season.
The lure of overseas contracts previously drew former Test captain Ben Mowen and exciting back-row prospect Pat Sio to France . As the situation now stands, it appears that Jake Schatz will be the only capped Wallaby number 8 secured with an Australian franchise, having played two Tests off the bench.
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