Category: Australia Rugby

Wallabies survive scare from surging Fiji at McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle

Out stride the two teams, side by side, accompanied by mascots. The visitors are wearing white jerseys and black shorts, the hosts are wearing their First Nations jersey, which is predominately gold, with green accents to match the green shorts.

Angus Fontaine puts it all into context for the Wallabies.

Adventurous attack. Bone-rattling defence. Mistakes punished and opportunities seized. Get in the enemy’s faces and bring the crowd into the contest from the get-go. A ragtag NSW Waratahs gave Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies a bold blueprint for how to dismantle the British & Irish Lions in the first Test on 19 July.

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• Hooker to partner James Slipper and Allan Alaalatoa in front row

• Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii returns after recovering from broken jaw

The Wallabies have opted for experience in their front row to face Fiji this weekend, with former captain David Porecki called back into the team, 643 days since he last pulled on a gold jersey.

Porecki, 32, was named on Friday in the starting XV for Sunday’s Test in Newcastle, alongside all-time cap record holder James Slipper and 80-Test tighthead Allan Alaalatoa, in a forward pack missing big guns Will Skelton and Rob Valetini, who both have calf injuries.

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Veteran flyhalf James O’Connor has missed selection in an extended 36-man Wallabies squad for next month’s Test against Fiji in Newcastle.

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is open to the idea of NSW State of Origin star Nathan Cleary switching to rugby union but is focused on the ongoing development of the national team’s current fly-half options, including Queensland Reds No.10 Tom Lynagh.

After a taste of the atmosphere during a post-university year travelling I was hooked and the memories will last a lifetime

June 2001. I’m on an overnight Greyhound bus from Cairns to Townsville. A typical post-university year travelling in Australia and New Zealand has taken an unwelcome turn after an equally typical relationship breakup.

Initially there had been no plans to follow that year’s British & Irish Lions tour, even though I had been enthralled by the classic encounter against the Springboks four years earlier. With my newfound freedom it seemed logical to head south, a couple of hundred miles down the coast, to see the legendary tourists in action.

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• AUNZ Invitational XV play British & Irish Lions in Brisbane in July
• Former Wallaby Toutai Kefu to coach First Nations and Pasifika XV

Incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss will get an early taste of international rugby when he oversees the AUNZ Invitational XV against the British & Irish Lions in Adelaide.

Queensland Reds mentor Kiss will team up with former All Blacks coach Ian Foster, who was already announced as an assistant for the July fixture, the first time since 1989 that Australia and New Zealand have combined on the field.

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An American rugby sevens star is facing a mammoth ban for brutally stomping on the head of an Australian player in an act of “thuggery” on Saturday.

• Player still needs surgery but fractured jaw is on lower scale
• ‘Just a four-week injury,’ says NSW Waratahs coach Dan McKellar

Wallabies fans can breathe easier after NSW Waratahs coach Dan McKellar allayed fears of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii missing any Tests against the touring British & Irish Lions.

Despite Suaalii requiring surgery for a broken jaw, McKellar on Thursday said the injury was of a lower scale and the 21-year-old was already back in the gym working out to maintain his conditioning.

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Former Australia under-20 international fullback Mason Gordon has retired aged just 22 because of ongoing concussion symptoms.

• Australia star suffers fractured jaw after on-field collision
• Suaalii may miss rest of NSW Waratahs’ Super Rugby season

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is in a race against time to be fit to face the British & Irish Lions, with the Wallabies star set to miss the rest of the Super Rugby Pacific regular season with a fractured jaw.

Suaalii will undergo surgery on a “small undisplaced fracture” he sustained in an accidental collision with a NSW Waratahs teammate against the Queensland Reds on Friday night.

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Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s Super Rugby season is over, with the Waratahs fullback ruled out for at least a month due to a fractured jaw.

• Former lock will remain with Australia for Lions series
• Leinster confirm Caelan Doris out for four to six months

Geoff Parling has been appointed as Leicester’s new head coach, bringing an end to a drawn out recruitment process to find Michael Cheika’s successor. Parling is currently employed as the Australia assistant coach but will return to Welford Road after this summer’s British & Irish Lions tour.

The former second-row Parling, 41, spent six years at Leicester and will be a popular appointment among the Tigers faithful. Paul Gustard, Graham Rowntree, Leon MacDonald and Stuart Lancaster were heavily linked with the role but Leicester finally landed on Parling, who has agreed a long-term contract.

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• Players like Samu Kerevi, Pete Samu and Will Skelton in frame
• Squad of up to 40 players to be picked before first Test in Brisbane

Such is the magnitude of the challenge and occasion that Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is set to ditch his no overseas-based players selection strategy for the blockbuster series against the touring British and Irish Lions.

While not picking talent from outside of Australia is not strictly a set-in-stone policy, Schmidt has made clear his preference to mostly overlook Wallabies stars playing offshore, or heading overseas.

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Maro Itoje has listened to Martin Johnson and Sam Warburton as he prepares his ‘tough men’ for Australia

Do you know what really stuck out as Maro Itoje sat chatting in the O₂ Arena after the British & Irish Lions squad announcement? His biceps. This year’s Lions jersey is tight enough on the shoulders and sufficiently short on the arms to make their already well-muscled captain look like Popeye on steroids. Say what you like about the Lions squad but they have chosen a strong leader.

It has worked for them in the past. Who can forget the pipe‑smoking Willie John McBride and his classic response – “Do you think there will be many of them?” – when an angry hotel manager in South Africa threatened to call the police to arrest a number of 1974 Lions who had been enthusiastically “rearranging” the furniture. Legend also has it that Ian McGeechan picked the hulking Martin Johnson as his skipper in 1997 partly because of the intimidating effect he might have on the Springboks – and the referee – when he entered their changing room.

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Joseph Suaalii left Allianz Stadium on a stretcher on Friday night after an ugly incident involving teammate Andrew Kellaway left him knocked out.