Wednesday’s Rugby News sees a whole lot of news out of the west, Tuttle keen to stay on at the Reds, and the Tahs focusing on Ledesma.
[one_half last=”no”]
Only two months to wait…
Until yesterday, many rugby fans (especially those over in the West) had been wondering what would be happening with the Force in 2018. Will their competition get off the ground? Will it be supported by Rugby Australia? Will they even take the field again?
The answer now is a resounding yes. In fact, the Force will be back in less than two months.
In a monster announcement that included a new logo, jersey and a whole squad, Twiggy Forrest confirmed that the Force will be playing seven home games against invitational sides in the lead up to the National Rugby Championship.
This campaign has been dubbed ‘World Series Rugby‘, with the campaign kicking into gear next year. More details are still to be released on that front.
The first six matches will see the Force host Fiji, Tonga, the Rebels, Crusaders, Samoa and Hong Kong, with the seventh match still to be confirmed.
“We have rebuilt the Western Force as we develop our tournament and we now have a wholly integrated community and high-performance club as the foundation of the future competition,” Twiggy Forrest announced at the official launch yesterday.
“We have serious ambitions for this great team and for rugby in our region and intend to see these ambitions through, starting today with the launch of World Series Rugby.
“We have already begun reinforcing grassroots rugby across Western Australia with a fun new RugbyRoos program encouraging kids aged 4 to 12 to take up this great game. Our new and dynamic series will continue this great work, bringing in a whole new support base for the game, inspiring young players and attracting important corporate interest.
“The focus for 2018 is to reintroduce and reinforce professional rugby in Western Australia for the benefits of our grassroots community, our players and our fans.”
Memberships are already on sale for the games, with the Fiji match scheduled to be the first one to kick off on May 4 (It looks like the Force is strong with this one).
“This series offers a strong future for rugby in Western Australia,” Matty Hodgson said.
“The Western Force are a quality outfit that have attracted interest from some of the best teams in our region. These matches are going to be fast and exciting and will offer a new experience for rugby fans in WA and across the Asia Pacific region.”
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
Force, Part 2.
The other big Force related news was the announcement of the squad for their 2018 season, and there are quite a few interesting choices.
While the squad is mostly comprised of newbies, longtime fans can take heart that there are eleven familiar faces returning to play in Force colours once again.
There is plenty of old favourites, young blood, and international experience coming into the side, from former Wallabies and Springbok players to Olympic Gold medallists.
“The squad has an important spread of youth and experience and we are delighted that the players have committed to the club,” new Force coach Tim Sampson said to rugby.com.au.
“The players have joined from many different clubs throughout Australia and internationally, so it is fantastic that we have players like Ian Prior, Peter Grant and Marcel Brache and others who have been with the Western Force previously.”
Western Force squad for 2018
Aj Alatimu, Chris Alcock, Marcel Brache, Masivesi Dakuwaqa, Rod Davies, Andrew Deegan, Tevin Ferris, Jaque Fourie, Josh Furno, Peter Grant, Chris Heiberg, Rodney Iona, Feleti Kaitu’u, Brad Lacey, Kieran Longbottom, Ryan Louwrens, Cameron Orr, Harrison Orr, Leon Power, Ian Prior, Harry Scoble, Tom Sheminant, Brynard Stander, Elliot Turner, Clay Uyen, Fergus Lee Warner
Personally, I reckon this is a pretty decent squad.
I question if they will be able to knock off a Super Rugby side in the Rebels and Crusaders, but I’m happy to be proven wrong on that one.
It’s fair to say as well that the Force will be heavy favourites to lift the Toast Rack for the second time in NRC history.
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”no”]
Long-term Tuttle
James Tuttle has re-signed with the Reds, adding an additional year to his current contract.
It is a good move for the young-un, having made his way up the rankings to become the Reds first choice halfback. However, some raised eyebrows at the fact he is only staying on another year, which made some wonder if he’d jump ship.
However, Tuttle himself dispelled any suggestions he was thinking of leaving the Reds, admitting that he was committed long-term to the Sunshine State.
“We just thought at this stage that it was the best thing to do,” he said to rugby.com.au.
“Obviously there is opportunity to continue to stay here as well.
“I’m pretty happy with the one year and hopefully I can continue to stay after that – I would love to stay here as long as possible.”
“I have a lot of unfinished business here and I want to see this place improve.
“I want to get it back to where Queensland rugby should be.”
Tuttle does seem to have the look of a potential future Wallaby halfback, but he admitted that while it is something he’d like to see happen, it is not something he is going to force.
“If you’re playing for your state and your Super side you obviously have aspirations to play for the Wallabies if you haven’t already,” Tuttle said.
“If you ask any player I’d think you’d get the same answer – they’d all say they’d love to wear that gold jersey down the track one day.
“At this stage I’m just focused on trying to get some wins on the board, here.
“If sides are playing pretty good footy then your name is going to be tossed up for selection in things like that.
“At the forefront of my mind is playing good footy here for Queensland and I’m not too focused on that sort of stuff.
“If it happens, it happens.”
[/one_half]
[one_half last=”yes”]
Taking on Big Lez
The Waratahs are heading to Argentina this weekend for a clash with current cellar dwellers the Jaguares. Many long time fans are sniffing the possibility of snaring a previous victory away from home.
But this match is particularly special for many in the Tahs lineup, in that they’ll be going up against their former scrummaging mentor, Mario Ledesma.
Regarded by many here at GAGR as the man who turned the Wallaby scrum around in the last few years, Ledesma is affectionately known as the “scrum guru” by Tom Robertson.
“Mario’s one of the legends of the game. You don’t play in four or five Rugby World Cups and play for your country at such a high level for so long and not learn a few things,” Robertson said in Buenos Aires yesterday.
“He’s very good at putting a practical perspective on what we want to do, from a scrum perspective.
“A lot of coaches talk about what’s good to do and what they want you to do but they can’t explain how to do it.
“Mario is very good at explaining how to do it because he’s been there and he knows what it feels like in the middle of the scrum.
“He’s been all around the world, played in France, Argentina and he’s picked up a lot of information there that he’s using now.”
But the Waratah stopped short of saying that the Jags will have an edge over the Tahs in the scrum, despite the fact the Tahs scrum has been copping plenty of beatings over the last fortnight.
“Because we’re trying to do our own thing and scrummage the way we want to scrummage we don’t really take into consideration what they’re doing.”
The Tahs have picked up a solid homegrown forwards coach of their own in Simon Cron, and Robertson has admitted that Cronno has given him many new perspectives on the scrum.
“From a scrum perspective, in the last two or three months, my technique has changed a lot,” he admitted.
“I think some of the deficiencies that we had at the scrum, Cronno has now fixed.
“He knows a lot about scrums and different techniques and we’ve been working closely with him on the scrum over the last couple of months.
“The Argentinians love their scrums so we’re certainly expecting a big battle up front there. It’s up to us to set the platform this week and we know they’re going to come for us in that area.”
[/one_half]
