Wednesday’s Rugby News looks at the potential changes for the Wallabies, a star of the future is tied down long-term, the Welsh camp complain after an injury to their star player and the Brumbies coach reflects on his factfinding mission across Europe.
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Axe set to fall for Italian Job
After a disappointing loss to Wales on the weekend, Michael Cheika is expected to swing the axe as the Wallabies prepare to take on Italy.
Cheika is set to recall Rebels outside back and Ellyse Perry’s arm candy Matt Toomua to replace Bernard Foley after his wayward kicking display against the Welsh and will weigh up whether to call up exciting rookies Jake Gordon and Jordan Peitua for the clash.
One of the key letdowns for the Wallabies on the weekend was their poor tactical kicking and Toomua’s strong boot has put him in line to wear the number 10 jersey against Italy, or potentially usurp Kurtley Beale at inside centre.
“The issue with us on the weekend was our option to kick was usually option B — we’d run a lot and then we’d go, ‘OK, let’s kick’,” said Toomua. “I think for us it’s actually about getting to that early and getting to a structure where we can actually get a good kick away and not use it as a fall back because then your chase isn’t good, your kick quality’s not as good as well.”
Whilst this seems like the ideal match to blood new talent in a seemingly straightforward win, with the way the side has been playing, I don’t have faith that this concept still exists for the side, a sentiment that is shared by Toomua.
“I think we’ve got to win don’t we? We’ve got to one; give respect to Italy as a team who we know can upset a lot of teams,” Toomua said.
“We struggled against them a few years ago back in Australia so I don’t think going out with wholesale changes would be the smartest tactic but I think at the same time, it’ll be a balance.”
“It’ll be imperative that we win the game and win well and get some momentum going into England and Cheik might have a bigger picture view in terms of a few guys here and there but I think after, particularly what happened on the weekend, we’ve got to get a win.”
After a long season and an important match against England on the horizon, it’s probably for the best that Cheika looks to rest some players who have played a lot of rugby or may be struggling with form (you know who you are).
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Petaiaed down for the future
As he gets set to potentially make his debut for the Wallabies on the weekend, Jordan Petaia’s future has been tied down with Queensland and Australian Rugby Union.
It is understood by The Daily Telegraph that Petaia will sign a four year deal with the Reds and ARU, committing the 18-year-old to rugby union until 2022, which will be welcome news to all rugby fans as Petaia has been attracting significant offers from overseas rugby clubs and the NRL.
Whilst the deal is set to be confirmed over the coming days, Petaia has been living up life in the Wallabies camp and believes that the side can turn around its fortune in its remaining fixtures of the Spring Tour.
“Obviously they haven’t had the best run of games so far this year but I think we’re really coming to turn that around and the boys are really focused on moving on and making a difference for the next games coming and obviously leading up to World Cup,” Petaia said. “They want to really turn around what’s been happening and just fix a lot of things in the game.”
Petaia life on tour has been made easier by the presence of a familiar face, his childhood friend Matt Toomua who has reflected on their opportunity to finally play together.
“It’s pretty cool, we’ve had a few other family and friends play professional rugby but never together, so it is kind of cool to experience this and at this level as well, is a bit surreal,” Toomua said.
“Jordan was so young, it wasn’t like we were playing much footy together because he was that young so it’s quite scary but he was always a rough-and-tumble kind of kid and he’d always try and play against myself and even my older brother, a lot older than Jordie, so you always knew he was brave and was very good.”
Petaia has seemed to settle in perfectly into Wallaby camp, despite some close encounters with losing one of the oldest members of the Wallabies set up (no not Ashley Cooper), the plush mascot ‘Wally’. Anyone who saw his breakout season this year would know that he would be ready for the opportunity against the Azzurri.
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Welsh wine after Halfpenny’s head knock
After breaking their drought against the Wallabies on the weekend, the Welsh seemingly can’t take the win without having a little winge about certain decisions from the match.
The complaints centre around an incident at the back end of the game in which Leigh Halfpenny was taken down to the ground in a collision with Samu Kerevi after a failed attempt at a charge down.
The Welsh Rugby Union confirmed that Halfpenny suffered a concussion during the incident and was forced from the field after failing the mandatory head knock protocols.
On review of the contact, referee Ben O’Keeffe deemed that the collision was simply a “rugby incident” with no malicious intent as a result of Kerevi’s momentum from the intended charge down, a decision which has angered the Welsh camp.
“It’s unbelievable, how do you think that’s not a penalty?” said skills coach Neil Jenkins. “I’m not quite sure what the rules state at this time, but Leigh is a tough old player who is constantly getting up and playing on and doesn’t go down lightly.”
“For him to go down and suffer an HIA (head injury assessment), there is certainly some form of head contact. The referee didn’t think so on the day, so we’ve just got to get on with it. He will go through his protocols and see where he is later in the week.”
Halfpenny is likely to be unavailable for this coming week’s match against Tonga in any event, with Wales coach Warren Gatland expected to make wholesale changes to his side to ensure the side’s fitness ahead of their clash with South Africa in a fortnight.
Interested to see what you think in the comments about the incident, personally I think the referee got it right as it’s impossible for Kerevi to disappear in this situation and incidents should not be judged on whether someone was concussed or not. Then again, this may be due to the Wallaby gold tinted filter that was used when judging the incident.
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McKellar hoping for luck of the Irish
In his quest to bring the Brumbies back to the finals and the top of Australian Super Rugby, coach Dan McKellar has embarked on a journey of personal development across Europe to hope to learn from two of the biggest clubs in Europe.
McKellar jetted over with attacking coach Peter Hewat to spend time with English Premiership champions Saracens and European titleholders Leinster to examine how they’ve implemented effective pathways across their rugby academies along with their operations.
“I’ve admired (Leinster’s) pathway systems in particular,” McKellar told Fox Sports. “Roughly 90 per cent of their players are born and bred Leinster boys, so they come through their school system, play school rugby against each other or with each other, they go into the Leinster academy and sub-academy system and they constantly produce quality Leinster players and quality Irish internationals, so I’ve wanted to go there for a period of time now.”
“And then Saracens I just reached out to (coach) Mark McCall and they were very welcoming. I just got in touch with him and immediately he came back and said ‘they’d love to have me visit,’ and it was an enjoyable experience.”
The extended stay with Saracens provided McKellar with the opportunity to examine the family culture that they had created within the club.
“From an on-field point of view, there was nothing that was cutting edge. But one thing that stood out at Saracens was just how well they look after their people (players, staff, family). There’s a genuine family atmosphere at Saracens and that was something that really stood out to me.”
After watching Saracens put Danny Cipriani’s Gloucester to the sword, McKellar and Hewat were then invited down to Bristol to join Eddie Jones and England in camp for the day, a move which McKellar was extremely grateful for.
“Monday was a nice little bonus with the chance to go down to Bristol and spend a day with Eddie Jones and the England camp as well,” McKellar said. “Again, Eddie was very welcoming. One thing you’ll say about Eddie Jones is that he has a real passion for passing on his knowledge and helping improve all coaches, and I couldn’t speak highly enough of that 10 or 11 hours with Eddie, (attack coach) Scotty Wisemantel and (defence coach) John Mitchell.”
Hopefully, McKellar is able to continue his revitalisation of the Brumbies with his experiences and lessons from this trip along with passing on scouting tips to Cheika from the day with the English camp.
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