Wednesday’s top rugby news has fly-half updates for the Wallabies and All Blacks, the wheelchair rugby Tri-Nations and Benji responding to his critics.
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Toomua rumoured to be Fly-Half
The big rumour doing the rounds, predominately reported via The Daily Telegraph, is that Matt Toomua is set to be named at fly-half in this weekend’s first Bledisloe test. Many were predicting that Reds’ fly-half Quade Cooper would get first crack at the number 10 jersey under new coach Ewen McKenzie. But he now looks likely to be involved from the bench on Saturday night with the Brumbies’ Toomua making his test debut in the starting side.
No doubt Toomua will be looking to make an impact on the All Blacks midfield with his hard hitting defence as well as with his assured work with ball in hand. Last week Toomua described the opportunity of playing against the All Blacks as “really cool”. Looks like he will find out just how cool on Saturday night.
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Dan Carter out with injury
You probably would have seen this news break through the day yesterday, but just in case, All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter has been ruled out for the next four weeks thanks to a calf injury suffered in training. Carter will definitely miss the first two tests against the Wallabies and is also in doubt for the test against Argentina on September 7. It continues a disappointing run for Carter who also missed two of the All Blacks three mid-year tests against France through injury.
Carter’s injury will open the door for the Chiefs’ Aaron Cruden to step into the number 10 jersey. A player coming off playing in the Super Rugby title winning side is a pretty handy replacement.
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Wheelchair Rugby Tri-Nations hits Sydney
The Tri-Nations is back, at least in wheelchair rugby. The defending Paralympic gold medallists the Australian Steelers will take on the USA, the top ranked side in the world, and New Zealand in a Tri-Nations event in Sydney this September. Running from 18-20 September, matches will be held outside at the St Mary’s Cathedral Square, a spectacular backdrop. Steelers’ player Cameron Carr said the event will be a massive challenge for the home side, who will be keen to gain revenge on the USA who recently took the number 1 world ranking. Carr compared the event to the Paralympics saying “it is way up there. To play someone like the US and in front of the general public, we are expecting it to be pretty amazing”.
Tickets go on sale at 9am today through Ticketmaster, so be sure to head along if will be in Sydney in September.
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Benji defends Blues announcement
New Blues recruit Benji Marshall has been copping a lot of criticism this week, much of it from Wests Tigers fans who previously believed he could do no wrong. Most of the criticism has centred on Marshall ‘doing a Lebron’ and announcing his move in a video message whilst proudly wearing an Auckland Blues jersey.
In response, Marshall has defended the way he announced his move, saying of the critics “everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and if people feel that way, they feel that way”. Even his current coach Mick Potter was relatively open in his criticism of the announcement stating on the issue “’I wouldn’t say it’s naivety because I think Benji probably knows better.” With criticism coming from most angles and the Tigers’ near the bottom of the ladder, Marshall will probably be pretty happy to get out of there in a few weeks’ time.
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