Super Rugby News
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2019 pre-season schedule
Highlanders v Waratahs, 6pm Friday 1 February, Molyneux Park, Alexandra
Hurricanes v Crusaders, 3pm Saturday 2 February, Levin Domain
Blues v Chiefs, 3pm Saturday 2 February, Kaikohe
Reds v Chiefs, Friday 8 February (Time TBC), Ballymore Stadium, Brisbane
Crusaders v Highlanders, 6pm, Friday 8 February, Southbridge
Hurricanes v Blues, 3pm, Saturday 9 February, Mangatainoka -
The chances of Sean McMahon playing at next year's World Cup continue to fade with confirmation the star backrower has signed a deal to play for the Japanese Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
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@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
The chances of Sean McMahon playing at next year's World Cup continue to fade with confirmation the star backrower has signed a deal to play for the Japanese Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
Who?
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TRANSFER NEWS: Waratahs are keen to add South African lock Le Roux Roets to their 2019 Super Rugby roster, head coach Daryl Gibson confirmed.
According to the Rugbycomau, the Australian franchise recruited Roets, a 200cm, 135kg lock who is currently playing for the Pumas in the Currie Cup.
The 23-year-old played for Golden Lions and Blue Bulls before heading to Top14 side Racing in 2016.
However, Roets reportedly turned down an offer from Toulon and return to South African to play for the Currie Cup side the Pumas in 2018.
“We are keen on filling that spot, that lock, and we are searching for that profile of lock where we want to add a bit of size to us,” Gibson told rugbycomau.
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@daffy-jaffy Plumtree will be gutted.
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@kiwimurph Massive signing for the Sunwolves imo. Weird seeing a player in their prime decide to sign for them haha.
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@african-monkey said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph Massive signing for the Sunwolves imo. Weird seeing a player in their prime decide to sign for them haha.
Well, when RugbyOz spends all their budget on Pooper you will see this more and more.
The guy's on a good earner in Japan, may as well stay there. -
@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
The chances of Sean McMahon playing at next year's World Cup continue to fade with confirmation the star backrower has signed a deal to play for the Japanese Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
Who?
Not sure if you are serious but a 26 test Wallaby flanker who left the Rebels a couple of years ago. Would walk back in to the Wallabies right now - very good player.
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@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
The chances of Sean McMahon playing at next year's World Cup continue to fade with confirmation the star backrower has signed a deal to play for the Japanese Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
Who?
Not sure if you are serious but a 26 test Wallaby flanker who left the Rebels a couple of years ago. Would walk back in to the Wallabies right now - very good player.
Not entirely unserious. He took a while to come to mind. Shows how immediacy (or lack thereof) messes with your memory.
And "walk back into the Walkabies"? Past Pooper.
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@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
The chances of Sean McMahon playing at next year's World Cup continue to fade with confirmation the star backrower has signed a deal to play for the Japanese Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
Who?
Not sure if you are serious but a 26 test Wallaby flanker who left the Rebels a couple of years ago. Would walk back in to the Wallabies right now - very good player.
Not entirely unserious. He took a while to come to mind. Shows how immediacy (or lack thereof) messes with your memory.
And "walk back into the Walkabies"? Past Pooper.
I'm talking about the Wallaby squad. At worst he'd be an absolute lock for the bench loose forward spot. Admittedly the Wallabies loosies outside of Pooper aren't much (Hanigan lol) but he's a good player - the problem is if he was in their squad then your 3 best loosies are all ideally 7s (Pocock, Hooper, McMahon) even though McMahon and Pocock have played/can play other loose forward positions.
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@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
The chances of Sean McMahon playing at next year's World Cup continue to fade with confirmation the star backrower has signed a deal to play for the Japanese Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
Who?
Not sure if you are serious but a 26 test Wallaby flanker who left the Rebels a couple of years ago. Would walk back in to the Wallabies right now - very good player.
Not entirely unserious. He took a while to come to mind. Shows how immediacy (or lack thereof) messes with your memory.
And "walk back into the Walkabies"? Past Pooper.
I'm talking about the Wallaby squad. At worst he'd be an absolute lock for the bench loose forward spot. Admittedly the Wallabies loosies outside of Pooper aren't much (Hanigan lol) but he's a good player - the problem is if he was in their squad then your 3 best loosies are all ideally 7s (Pocock, Hooper, McMahon) even though McMahon and Pocock have played/can play other loose forward positions.
Sorry, left off the sarcasm emoji wrt to Poopah!
I preety much agree with you, but Poopah!
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@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
@booboo said in Super Rugby News:
@kiwimurph said in Super Rugby News:
The chances of Sean McMahon playing at next year's World Cup continue to fade with confirmation the star backrower has signed a deal to play for the Japanese Sunwolves in Super Rugby.
Who?
Not sure if you are serious but a 26 test Wallaby flanker who left the Rebels a couple of years ago. Would walk back in to the Wallabies right now - very good player.
Not entirely unserious. He took a while to come to mind. Shows how immediacy (or lack thereof) messes with your memory.
And "walk back into the Walkabies"? Past Pooper.
I'm talking about the Wallaby squad. At worst he'd be an absolute lock for the bench loose forward spot. Admittedly the Wallabies loosies outside of Pooper aren't much (Hanigan lol) but he's a good player - the problem is if he was in their squad then your 3 best loosies are all ideally 7s (Pocock, Hooper, McMahon) even though McMahon and Pocock have played/can play other loose forward positions.
and that would be a huge mistake. 7 short ass opensides in your team? But of the 3 of them, McMahon is the one who will at least truck it up in traffic, he's a bit of an animal. It's his only real skill.
Recent Aussie rugby is littered with third-in-line opensides leaving for overseas and being lamented by fans.
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Israel Folau will be joined by his younger brother after Waratahs head coach
Daryl Gibson confirmed John Folau has been offered a training spot with the side.
Gibson said Folau – a rugby league convert like his brother – impressed after switching from the NRL and joining the NRC’s Sydney Rays.
“John has an absolute raw quality to him, he’s an excellent athlete,” Gibson told The Sydney Morning Herald‘s Georgina Robinson.
“[He is] very similar to Israel when he first came over in 2013. It’s a question of him learning the game and our ability to teach him the game, and how quickly he can pick that up. He certainly has all the raw qualities of an athlete, so it’s about how fast we can turn that into a rugby player.”
Folau spent the last three years with the Parramatta Eels, making eight first grade appearances after a test debut for Tonga in 2014.
Gibson was an assistant with the Waratahs when Michael Cheika convinced Israel Folau to give union a try, so he is not unfamiliar in dealing with a rugby league convert. -
Super 14 all over again? SANZAAR mull radical overhaul (Sydney Morning Herald)
The Super Rugby nations are considering cutting the competition back to 14 teams and doing away with the unpopular conference system from 2021. Not for the first time, Japan's Sunwolves are in the firing line as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina battle to agree on a format that suits all unions.The Herald understands the 14-team competition was one of a small handful of models discussed by the SANZAAR unions after the World Rugby meetings in Dublin three weeks ago. The format would do away with the conference system, drop one team and implement a variation on an all-play-all model, or round robin. The Sunwolves appear to be the team most at risk, unless another South African team follows in the footsteps of the Cheetahs and Kings and joins the Pro 14. Rumours persist that all four teams, including last year's runners-up the Lions, are eyeing off a move to the more timezone-friendly European competition. But the Herald has been told that with two teams already playing there, SA Rugby would be keen to keep their Super Rugby contingent stable at four teams and potentially put two more into the Pro 14 in coming years.The Jaguares, from Argentina, finished seventh last season and have helped fuel steady improvement in the Pumas' fortunes at Test level, with a quarter-final berth in the 2015 World Cup and Test victories against South Africa, Australia, France and Italy since then. But as a full member of the SANZAAR alliance and Argentina now considered a Rugby Championship staple, it appears the Jaguares are staying put for the time being. The formation this year of Rugby Americas is the only caveat to that. The Sunwolves are entering their fourth season of Super Rugby. They finished bottom of the table in 2018 with three wins from 16 matches, compared to four wins from the 14th-placed Blues and six wins from the Reds, Bulls and Stormers. Constraining the decision-making is the need to keep the competition to a 22-week duration. A full round-robin format, in which every team plays every other team on a home-and-away basis, would be impossible to fit into that window, regardless of whether there were 14 or 15 teams involved. A modified round robin, similar to the NRL's format, would be the only way for it to work."What we've got to realise is that Super Rugby was established originally in order to slip that one level below Test matches and the yield that it's given is being able to deliver three and now four countries that are seriously competitive on the international stage and have dominated the World Cup since its formation," Marinos said. "That value can't be underestimated as a breeding ground for international rugby, which does drive a fair portion of revenue in the game. "The essence of the product is very strong and we still get the best players in the world playing in that comp. Our big challenge is to get the right mix together to use it as a platform to drive forward." -
@stargazer said in Super Rugby News:
The Jaguares, from Argentina, finished seventh last season and have helped fuel steady improvement in the Pumas' fortunes at Test level,
haha ok, solid reporting there.
I wonder if Super rugby has in fact done the opposite while the Argies are trying to play a different style, they are slowly adapting at Super level but currently unable to adjust to the different style in Test rugby.
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A step in the right direction
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EXCLUSIVE: McMahon signs with Sunwolves, World Cup hopes fade
