Wednesday’s Rugby News has Leroy Houston in, Quade and Cheika philosophising about the Wallabies struggles, Cheika wanting to get rid of June tests and the NRC final primed for prime time.
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Leroy Defos In
It’s basically been confirmed that Leroy Houston, formerly of Bath and currently of Bath (on loan from the Queensland Reds), will make his first appearance for the Wallabies 11 years after his first call up.
“He’s a contender for sure,” Cheika said, according to the SMH. “One of the big goals when he signed with us to come back to Australia with the Reds was to play for the Wallabies. That’s the thing he wanted to do.
“The one thing Leroy is is a very good footballer. He understands the game and he’s a traditional No.8. We’ve mixed and matched in that position over the past year or so, so definitely a player I’ve looked at not just for this year but going forward over the next couple of years.”
“He trained with us through some of June and in the training camps through August,” added Cheika. “He didn’t make the selection in those instances but I think once he gets used to the southern way again I suppose he’ll be a real contender.”
It still remains to be seen whether Lopeti Timani, who made his debut off the bench against Argentina in Perth, will retain the no. 8 shirt or lose it to Houston.
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Quade, Cheika: “What Doesn’t Kill You…”
Michael Cheika and Quade Cooper reckon the Wallabies slump in form will be a good thing for the team in the future, as the squad will be stronger for having come through the adversity of having their egos nuked by England and New Zealand this year.
Despite saying he “can’t complain” when asked what he thinks of his last year in 12 months of the Wallabies – ummmmm – Cheika, via the SMH, said the following:
“You go through great times and then you can go through tougher times and they’ll always lead to giving you the scars on the inside to have better times later on,” Cheika philosophised. hand on chin. “We went through a tough patch early on in the year and we’ll get plenty from that later on. It’ll be the making of us in the end because tough times breed better times later on.”
For his part, Quade echoed his boss, with a smoking pipe in his mouth and newspaper unfolded in front of him: “A lot of those lessons learnt were about how I went about my training, how I approached my games and it all added up to when we had the opportunity a few years later to be in a much better place,” Cooper said. “Now, we have a won a few, lost a few, but we’ve also grown as a team. The combinations are building and all the boys are getting more confident each week. I’m certainly feeling that.”
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Get Rid Of June Tests
Michael Cheika, a news writer’s dream, has yapped on even more, this time opining that he wants rid of June tests. After no doubt drawing up a very complex spreadsheet listing the pros and cons of the traditional winter series – and consulting with Tevita Kuridrani – Cheika has told the SMH that he don’t like ’em.
In fact, the Cheik-meister general has gone a step further and added that he feels the Super season should be uninterrupted.
“I think the idea of an unbroken Super Rugby season is much better from a fan’s perspective,” Cheika said. “[You] have to be conscious of fans because they are the ones paying to watch the rugby. In Super Rugby, an unbroken season would be a positive for the tournament and for the popularity of rugby in our country. We have a lot competition from other sports…to have continuity would be good.”
Unfortunately, Cheika realises that his opinion won’t hold much sway with the suits. “At end of the day, there are some powerbrokers way above my pay grade playing this game around organising this global season,” Cheika lamented.
“I don’t think what I say is going to make much of a difference,” said the man who once made Bernard Foley look like a world-class flyhalf.
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NRC GF Going Prime Time
The ARU have announced that the 2016 NRC final will be prime time this year, with a 7:45pm Official Rugby Time (aka AEDT) kickoff on Saturday 22 October slated as the start of the party. The eagle-eyed among you would have noticed that this means that the NRC final will begin two hours after the third and final Bledisloe rout of the year is completed in Auckland.
The third annual NRC big dance will be the second night final, after the first season had a night final while a Sunday arvo sesh was preferred for last year’s gig.
The upcoming final will also be the first one not held in Brisbane, which is a formality given that Brisbane City and Queensland Country are both rock bottom of the league. Both the Sydney Rays and NSW Country Eagles will clinch the semi-final spots, with Perth Spirit, Melbourne Rising, Canberra Vikings and current Horan-Little Shield holders Western Sydney Rams all vying for the last two finals spots on the last of the season this weekend. [/one_half]
Toothy Memorial
This Saturday, 8 October, the Quirindi Rugby Club in northern New South Wales will play host to the Toothy Tens Rugby Memorial Day in honour of local man, Nick “Toothy” Tooth.
Founded and organised by a bunch of Toothy’s peers, the rugby tournament is a celebration of Nick’s life, after he passed away from sustaining a head injury during a local rugby union match in Quirindi in April 2015. The event will aim to raise funds and awareness of sports-related head injuries and the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.
Nick played for the Quirindi Lions since the under 6s, and was a team favourite throughout his time playing for the Shore School, the Eastern Suburbs Colts and premiership winning player for Woollahra Colleagues Rugby Club.
The tournament, now in its second year, will kick off at 10am and run through to the early evening, featuring 16 teams from all around NSW. Other than rugby games, there will also be a live auction where things such as an Enforcer Pro scrum machine, a stud Hereford bull, signed international jerseys and Australian open tickets will be all up for grabs.
For more information, visit this site.
