Wednesday’s Rugby News sees legends calling it quits, Tui heading for a timeout, the calming presence of Christian, and some good news for Washington rugby fans.
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Ready for Retirement
Starting off today’s news, Irish No 8. Jamie Heaslip and All Black prop Wyatt Crocket have officially announced their retirement from the game this year.
Heaslip was the the first to announce his retirement, effective immediately. With 95 Irish caps to his name, he toured twice with the British and Irish Lions while also enjoying incredible success with his club Leinster, winning three Heineken Cups, a Challenge Cup and three Pro12/Celtic league titles. He also was shortlisted for the World Rugby Player of the Year twice in his career, in 2009 and 2016.
He was also part of two legendary moments in Irish Rugby history, being in the Irish team that defeated the Springboks for the first time in South Africa, as well as the famous squad who beat the All Blacks for the first time ever in Chicago.
“Jamie was an intelligent and incredibly robust player,” noted Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt.
“The string of trophies he contributed to is lengthy, including three European Cups, three Six Nations, including the 2009 Grand Slam and a couple of Pro12 trophies thrown in for good measure.
“There are so many moments that spring to mind, whether it be his superb second half against Northampton in the 2011 Heineken Cup final or his clever line and tireless work ethic that combined to see him score the International Try of the Year two years ago, or his crucial try saving tackle on Stuart Hogg on ‘Super Sunday’, to help tip the balance in retaining the Six Nations trophy.
“Utterly professional, driven to succeed and a leader with the actions he delivered.”
Crockett meanwhile announced that his career will come to it’s end after this final season with the Crusaders. Crockett in his career has achieved 71 All Black caps so far, and also holds the record for having more Super Rugby appearances than any other player, at (currently) 188 caps.
His impressive career includes a couple of Super Rugby titles, and being part of the 2015 World Cup winning side.
“It is never an easy thing to know when the time is right, but my family have made a number of sacrifices over the past 13 years which have allowed me to live out my dream,” Crockett said to Fox Sports.
“Now it’s time for me to give back to them, simply by being there more than I have been able to as a professional rugby player.”
Crockett will be remaining in New Zealand, but will instead play for Tasman in the Mitre 10 Cup.
“On behalf of the All Blacks, I want to thank ‘Crocky’ for everything he has done for the team, he’s been a great servant of the game and definitely enhanced the jersey during his time in it,” said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.
“I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank his wife Jenna for the sacrifices the family made to allow him to be available to play the game for as long as he has.
“He leaves the All Blacks as a world-class front rower, senior professional and much-loved member of our squad.”
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Christian the Calm
While it looks to be chaos over at the Reds, things couldn’t be more different over at the Brumbies. If anything, a real sense of calm has set in.
It was this calm feeling that saw the team come from behind to beat the Sunwolves last week, and according to young gun Tom Banks, a lot of the reason is due to the presence of Christian Lealiifano in the squad.
“He’s such a calming influence, especially on the field,” Banks said to rugby.com.au.
“He is so influential in what he says and he is really calm on the field.
“It really helps both the inside and outside backs.”
Banks admitted that the Brumbies were off their game in the first round of the season, and were not ready for a Sunwolves outfit that were willing to spread the ball wide an diversify up their attack.
“You’re just trying to get your structures together but there were some good glimpses there and we had some really good passages of play,” he added.
“The structure we are trying to play will take a little bit of time but we are looking a lot better.
“You still have to go through them before you go around them and you don’t want silly offloads or things like that.”
The Brumbies will be naming their squad within the next two days, and Banks is looking forward to getting back on the park against his old club.
“I always love playing Queensland because I did get my start there and there’s a bit of history there,” he reflected.
“When there is so much hype in the offseason over what they have tried to build and they have a season opener like that, they are going to bounce back as hard as they can.
“We have to weather the storm early and then look to play our own game.”
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Hold my Beer Higgers
The fallout for the Reds poor discipline continued to worsen yesterday. Following Scotty Higginbotham receiving a three week ban for a dangerous tackle, Lukhan Tui joined his skipper to serve a three week ban for a lift-and-drive tackle on Will Genia last Friday.
Like Higginbotham though, Michael Heron QC said that the sentence was reduced from a standard six week suspension due to an absence of intention and Tui’s excellent disciplinary record up until this point.
This means that both Tui and Higginbotham will miss matches against the Brumbies, Bulls and Jaguares, and their absence puts a lot of pressure on the Reds squad to make amends in the coming rounds.
Former Wallabies lock Kane Douglas is frontrunner to replace Tui in the lock role, while rookie backrower Liam Wright is predicted to be the one selected to fill Higgers shoes.
The Reds will name their squad at some point today for their first home match of the season on Friday against the Brumbies.
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Square off in Washington
There’s rumblings in Washington DC. But none of this has to do with President Trump.
The Welsh Rugby Union and SA Rugby confirmed that they will be playing a match in the US capital on June 2 of this year.
The fixture between Wales and the Springboks was confirmed by the South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States Mninwa Johannes Mahlangu, and Wales First Minister Carywn Jones. The event will be the first match of Wales’s summer tour, which will continue on with a two match series against the Pumas in Argentina.
“This is an exciting fixture for the WRU and for the national squad,” Welsh Rugby Union chief executive Martyn Phillips said in a statement that was shared on Fox Sports.
“It is a great opportunity to showcase Wales and our game in the capital of the United States.”
The game has been growing in popularity over in the US, and it is now an increasingly regular fixture to see international teams playing all around the country. The US will also be hosting a World Sevens tournament in San Francisco in July.
Warren Gatland also welcomed the fixture, seeing it as a great opportunity to expand the game further.
“We are really pleased to add a third fixture to our summer tour schedule and we hope it will be another great test match between ourselves and the Springboks,” Gatland said.
The match will be played at RFK Stadium.
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