Wednesday’s rugby news has the Irish parading their strengths, some Brumby contract dramas, more Welsh stars leaving the country and the French Heineken Cup efforts.
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Irish to target Wallaby line-out
Irish forwards coach John Plumtree is confident that his team, led by Lions legend Paul O’Connell and 6ft 11in lock Devin Toner, can disrupt Australia’s line-out, stifling our first phase attack. While conceding that Australia will be a step-up in competition, Plumtree praised his team’s 100% line-out success rate against Samoa while emphasising the defensive capabilities of Toner.
Another area of perceived weakness is the inexperienced Australian centre pairing of Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani, who will oppose Brian O’Driscoll, recently labelled by winger Fergus McFadden the ‘greatest Irish sportsman of all-time.’ While Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie has backed his team, he emphasised, ‘It’s going to be a real challenge for us because whoever is going to be in front of him is probably only going to have a handful of Tests under his belt.’ [/one_half]
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Brumbies struggle to keep players
The Brumbies are facing the financial difficulties of successful player development as coach Stephen Larkham may struggle to retain his Wallaby superstars when initiating contract talks in coming weeks. Matt Toomua, Christian Lealiifano, Scott Fardy, Scott Sio and Jesse Mogg headline the Brumbies becoming free agents in 2014, all of whom are in high demand from other Super Rugby and overseas clubs .
While the Brumbies had just three Wallabies players on their roster at the start of last year – Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander and Pat McCabe – they now boast 13 players with Test experience. Many of these players will warrant significantly extended contracts. Mogg, Fardy and Sio, for example, were all on $40,000 extended playing squad contracts when they joined the Brumbies last year. [/one_half]
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Jonathan Davies to French rugby
Clermont have confirmed the signing of Welsh star and Scarlets skipper Jonathan Davies for the 2014 and 2015 seasons. ‘His profile fits the game we play perfectly and he will bring us a lot,’ said Clermont’s sporting director Jean-Marc Lhermet, also adding ‘[he] is one of the world’s best players in his position.
The signing continues the exodus of Welsh internationals, including Lions representatives Mike Phillips, Jamie Roberts, George North and Dan Lydiate. The WRU will be bitterly disappointing, having recently made extra cash available to offer leading internationals such as Davies more lucrative central contracts.
Davies, who recently sustained a pectoral tear requiring surgery, will also now be joined on the sidelines by prop Adam Jones, who will miss Wales’ three remaining Autumn Tests due to a calf injury. James Slipper will now have a significantly easier task with one of the best scrummagers in world rugby out of action. [/one_half]
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French offer Heineken Cup stimulus
The French Rugby Federation has reportedly offered French clubs €2 million each to commit to playing in the Heineken Cup next season. FRF president Pierre Camou is said to be unhappy with the proposed governance of the breakaway Champions Cup, with organisers testifying that the boards will have little involvement in the face of the increased administrative power given to the clubs.
He now claims that clubs’ plans to join the Champions Cup are in breach of the French rugby rules, although this is disputed by the Ligue National de Rugby. Camou’s activism has already had an effect though, with French rugby newspaper Midi Olympique claiming that several French clubs including Toulon and Biarritz now support the Heineken Cup, a significant blow to the budding Anglo-French competition. [/one_half]
