Category: Australia Rugby

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.

Continue reading...

• 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.

Continue reading...

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.

Continue reading...

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

Fijian wing Josaia Raisuqe, who won Olympic rugby sevens silver in Paris last year, has died after the 30-year-old’s car was hit by a train on Thursday, his Top 14 club Castres said.

England’s Maro Itoje said it was a “tremendous honour” to be named captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby union team on their upcoming tour of Australia as the squad was announced Thursday (Friday AEST).

We profile each player from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland who will compete for places in Andy Farrell’s Test match squads to take on Australia this summer

Continue reading...

Former Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has opened up about his infamous pre-Rugby World Cup press conference at Sydney Airport where he told a group of journalists to give themselves uppercuts.

Ellia Green has won Olympic gold, world series and has competed on the biggest stages in sport, yet it was a club rugby match on a suburban field in Clovelly which proved one of the most special games of his career.

Rugby Australia chief executive officer Phil Waugh says the coaching transition from Joe Schmidt to Les Kiss next year is the “best possible outcome” for the Wallabies after confirming the Queensland Reds mentor would take the national role in July next year.

• Kiss to see out Super Rugby Pacific contract with Queensland Reds
• Schmidt to remain in charge for end-of-season European tour

Joe Schmidt will remain as Wallabies coach until next mid-2026 before Less Kiss takes over, Rugby Australia has confirmed.

Schmidt was to have finished up after this year’s Rugby Championship but RA was keen for “minimal disruption to the Australian rugby ecosystem” and for Kiss to complete his Super Rugby Pacific contract with the Queensland Reds in 2026.

Continue reading...

• Reds coach expected to confirmed as Joe Schmidt’s successor
• Kiss will become fifth Wallabies coach in six years

The protracted process to secure Les Kiss as the next Wallabies coach has been finalised with the Queensland Reds mentor to be the fifth man to fill the seat in six years. Kiss is expected to front the media in Sydney on Wednesday before flying to Suva to join the Reds squad ahead of Saturday’s crucial Super Rugby Pacific encounter with Fiji.

He is contracted until the end of next year at the Reds, who sit fourth and are eyeing a title push this season. But it is understood the Queensland Rugby Union and Rugby Australia have negotiated a release for the former representative rugby league winger, who arrived at Ballymore last year after two decades in Europe.

Continue reading...

Former Wallabies star Quade Cooper has named a wishlist of NRL stars to represent Australia in flag football at the 2028 Olympics.

The NSW Waratahs have stunned the rugby union world with a phenomenal 102-metre team try during their upset Super Rugby win over the Chiefs in Sydney on Friday night.