Wednesday’s rugby news has Cheika considering playing three 7’s, Waratahs must win this weekend to keep their season alive, Jesse Parahi re-joins the Sevens setup and Alistair Coetzee named new Springboks coach.
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Cheika Considering 3 7’s
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has entertained the possibility of starting three openside flankers against England in June.
Following the success of the ‘pooper’ and due to the form of the likes of Sean McMahon and Liam Gill in Super Rugby this season, Cheika said he was open to the idea.
“I don’t know about three sevens rotating. I’d think more about three sevens playing together. Why not?” Cheika said.
“I understand the lineout and that but I probably wouldn’t have thought about two sevens once upon a time but their form forced me to do that.”
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Tahs Must Win
Waratahs lock Dean Mumm has stressed the importance of winning their match against the Brumbies this weekend if the Waratahs want to play in the finals this season.
“You must win your games at home and particularly you must win games at home against other Aussie teams,” lock Dean Mumm said.
“That last game we dropped one. Probably more worrying from our team, and what we offered our fans, was a period of the game where we didn’t play the way we wanted to play.
“That period in the first half where we let in points we didn’t play to the style we wanted to play with, and one we are proud of. That’s what we are definitely looking towards this weekend.”
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Parahi Re-Joins Sevens
The Australian Men’s Sevens program have announced that Jesse Parahi will re-join the Sevens program from NRL club West Tigers on a two year deal effective immediately.
Parahi has already won 33 caps on the Sevens World Series and last played for the Australian team in November last year.
“I’m really excited to be linking up with the boys again. Rugby Sevens is close to my heart and always will be,” Parahi said.
“I’m passionate about the game and have been getting up at all times of the day to watch the boys play. When the opportunity arose to come back, it was one I couldn’t turn down.
“I’m fully aware that I need to impress Andy [Friend] and the coaching staff and hopefully I can secure a seat on the plane to Paris and London for the last two rounds of the World Series.”
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Coetzee Named Coach
Former Stormers coach Alistair Coetzee has been named the new coach of the Springboks.
The announcement of the new coach was set to be made last December was pushed back to early April, then postponed again with no official explanation for either delay.
Whilst Coeztee never won a Super Rugby title with the Stormers, he was able to regularly get them to the knock out stages.
Coetzee was also assistant coach of the Springboks when they won the Rugby World Cup in 2007.
