Wednesday 13 November 2024 #20
Hey there G&GRs, and welcome to Wednesday’s Rugby News. It’s a second attempt for today’s news as the first try had lots of old comments attached to it. Apologies to Keith and Eloise for losing their comments.
I’m backing up again this week, as both Yowie and KARL are away. Hopefully there isn’t some G&GR writers convention/party that I missed an invite to. Come to think of it, its very quiet on the craparazzi chat as well.
Anyway thanks for the feedback on the player ratings from Tuesday’s news. The general consensus was that I was a little too generous in my ratings for the Aussie players, and maybe one point less across the board would have been a better representation of the scores.
Not as contentious today, some news about the Wallabies, some other general news from around the globe and then hand it over to the comments.
Wallabies squad news
There was a fair bit of discussion in the comments on Tuesday about who could replace Harry Wilson at number 8 and who might captain the side.
There’s an article over on rugby.com.au where Jeremy Williams said that he’s willing to move to the backrow if asked. I get it from his perspective, but I hope they actually give either Langi Gleeson or Seru Uru a go. For mine I’d pick Uru, he was massive for the Reds against Wales earlier in the year, and he is a genuine number 8, and Gleeson can provide cover for the back row from the bench.
You can read more about Williams in Nathan Williamson’s article here.
Speaking of the Wales game, did anyone else notice that it’s on Monday morning Australia time?
Potential Wallabies squad for this week.
It’ll be a couple of days before the team gets announced for this week, and with at least two injuries we can expect to see some changes in the starting lineup and the bench. I was 22 from 23 last week, having Kerevi in the starting lineup and JAS on the bench, whereas the selected team had JAS starting and Dono on the bench.
Anyway, my thoughts for this week are:
- Slipper
- Faessler
- Alaalatoa (c)
- Frost
- Skelton
- Valetini
- McReight
- Uru
- Gordon
- Noah
- Jorgensen
- Ikitau
- JAS
- Kellaway
- Wright
- BPA
- Bell
- Tupou
- Williams
- Gleeson
- McDermott
- Kerevi
- Donaldson
I’m going with some squad rotation with Uru in for Wilson, Skelton to get some minutes and Williams to rotate to the bench. I read somewhere that Pietsch was out this week, maybe a calf tear and returning home. I hope not, but if it is, good luck in getting fit for the start of Super Rugby.
Otherwise, more about rotation than changes, what do you think?
When is a red card really just an orange card?
There’s an article over at Planet Rugby which identifies this was the real test of the 20 minute red card and they think there are teething problems. The full article is here, and I have to agree with the sentiment that there is some genuine subjectivity to the decision to upgrade from a yellow on review and a red card. They cite the Wales/Fiji game, with two cards involving Radradra, one where he was cleaned out by Reffell, and copped a shoulder directly to the head; it was reviewed and Reffell’s yellow stayed a yellow. No one would have been surprised if it was red. Then Radradra made high contact on Cam Winnett after a kick chase, saw yellow, and was upgraded to red. I don’t think one was worse than the other, both had come from distance, Radradra’s technique might’ve been better, but both were poor attempts and you could say both deserved red.
There are two issues here, why were the incidents different, and is a 20 minute sanction for a red card sufficient penalty. It’s something World Rugby will have to work through, and the referees and TMOs will adjust and learn. We’ll see which way it goes over time, maybe this is why France and Ireland(?) didn’t want the 20 minute red card.
Sevens schedule locked in
World rugby has announced that Los Angeles will host the 2024-25 SVNS grand final.
Singapore and Los Angeles will play host to the circuit in April and May, with the winner-takes-all Championship heading to North America for the first time on 3-4 May at Dignity Health Sports Park, the likely site for the 2028 Olympics.
HBSC SVNS 2024/2025 SCHEDULE
- Dubai, UAE – 30 November-1 December 2024 (Sevens Stadium)
- Cape Town, South Africa – 7-8 December 2024 (DHL Stadium)
- Perth, Australia – 24-26 January 2025 (HBF Park)
- Vancouver, Canada – 21-23 February 2025 (BC Place)
- Hong Kong – 28-30 March 2025 (Kai Tak Stadium)
- Singapore – 5-6 April 2025 (National Stadium)
- Los Angeles – 3-4 May 2025 (Dignity Health Sports Park)
Te start of the SVNS circuit is only three weeks away and the Australian teams will be looking to start the season strongly after the Olympics campaigns didn’t reach the heights they were aiming for.
The match schedule for the Aussie teams in Dubai is.
HSBC SVNS DUBAI MATCH SCHEDULE
POOL A – AUSTRALIA WOMEN
Saturday, 30 November
Australia v China (4:44pm AEDT)
Australia v Fiji (8:05pm AEDT)
Sunday, 1 December
Australia v Ireland (12:35am AEDT)
POOL A – AUSTRALIA MEN
Saturday, 30 November
Australia v South Africa (5:50pm AEDT)
Australia v France (10:20pm AEDT)
Sunday, 1 December
Australia v Kenya (3:44am AEDT)
Player movement
The Australian men’s team will be without the services of reigning Sevens player of the Year, Nathan Lawson, who has signed to play league for the Dragons for two years. It’s a blow for the men’s team but good luck to Nathan as he looks to capitalise on an opportunity to try a new sport and earn a better living. His departure will mean that someone else will get to play Sevens at the highest level.
Wales Rugby
There must be some talk in Wales about Warren Gatland’s future as head coach, but the coach himself isn’t buying into it.
“You can worry about that,” Gatland told reporters when asked about his future. “The pressure comes from the media as it’s a narrative you create. That’s okay. I believe that since the World Cup, with the players we’ve lost, we’ve invested in the youngsters and we’ve seen development. We need patience and time. I understand Test match rugby is about winning. You control the narrative and write what you want.”
The veteran New Zealander’s second spell as Wales coach is proving markedly less successful than his first, from 2007 to 2019. That yielded four Six Nations titles — including three Grand Slams and two appearances in World Cup semi-finals. But the 61-year-old has found wins harder to come by since replacing compatriot Wayne Pivac as Wales coach in December 2022.
“Hopefully next week,” Gatland said of when the next win would come. “It was supposed to be today. I’ve been around long enough to know Test match rugby is all about winning. But it’s taking the pressure off the players so they can go out there and play. There’s probably one or two moments there where players will think if they were more accurate, they could have created opportunities. But in fairness to the boys, the first thing they do is look at themselves.”
Quotes from AFP and Rugby Australia above, and you can read the longer article here.
Will there be movement on the bomb squad and the number of replacements
British rugby writer Stephen Jones isn’t one of my favourite people to read, but he has put voice to concerns/criticism of the impact the bomb squads are having on the game and maybe that limiting the number of replacements is one way to reduce that impact and improve the game at the same time. Quoted over at Planet Rugby here, Jones picks up on themes we’ve been discussing here for a while.
“What can be done for the sport to bomb out bomb squads wherever they gather? It is a truism and yet also the inherent weakness of the modern-day game that huge guys almost always prevail over the normal-sized ones. Everyone knows that the sheer mass of rugby players at the moment is making the sport more dangerous to play, and as we wait for the results of various high-level medical investigations, it could also be, at its elite end, causing potentially horrible illnesses.
“Surely the answers should be easy. Rugby must crop fiercely the number of replacements allowed on the pitch. It still seems crazy that the number of permitted replacements has now gone up by such a degree that most teams end the game with less than half of their starters still on the field. It was never meant to be like that, because in rugby you were meant to get tired, spaces were meant to open up and if your opponent got the better of you in the power game, then why did you deserve to bring on fresh men? Eight replacements per match is far too many.” Says Jones.
It seems that he isn’t alone as Keith Wood and Matt Williams have similar views. They quote four forwards and one back, maybe five is the answer.
I say let the coaches decide, they can have five players substituted, heck even interchanged, but it’s five in total. If you use them up too early and someone gets injured, tough it out, or play with less. Of course there’ll always be a grey area with blood replacements and with HIA protocols, but I’m sure that some statistical analysis can help with that, and maybe that could be the reason to increase from my original idea of four to five.
If the home nations are starting to agitate against this, we could see some change. I think it would be for the better.
That’s a wrap for this week
That’s it for me this week, thanks for reading twice (ot thrice if you include the match review), and I look forward to the comments section. Over to you G&GRs.
