Rugby Australia

Queensland Reds Flanker out to make his family proud

The Queensland Reds player is glad to be back home.

“For me it’s been a real pleasure to come back home, it’s been 3 years since I’ve been back in the country and really looking forward to see the family,” he said.

The 25-year-old is aiming to give his best performance when they take on the Manu Samoa in Suva tomorrow.

“Do my best and to play good with the brothers and at the end of the day just to make everyone happy from Australia. And not forgetting the family back here in Fiji, just to make them happy.”

Dave Rennie urges Australia not to break away from Super Rugby

RA chairman Hamish McLennan dropped a bombshell last week by reportedly telling Kiwi counterpart Stewart Mitchell that Australia would consider going it alone in Super Rugby from 2024 onwards.

McLennan said in a later interview that RA would fulfil its 2023 Super Rugby Pacific commitments but hinted an all-Australian competition could be launched after that, with a view to the Rugby World Cup in 2027.

Rennie is adamant the model that will benefit the Wallabies the most is the current one, in which Australian sides battle the might of New Zealand's best.

Wallabies to review selection policy after trio opt out of autumn UK tour

  • Japan-based players including Quade Cooper have pulled out
  • ‘We want guys who are desperate to be Wallabies,’ says coach

The Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has said Australia will review its selection policy at the end of the year after the fly-half Quade Cooper joined centre Samu Kerevi and back rower Sean McMahon in opting out of the tour of Britain.

Rennie confirmed on Thursday that Cooper had become the third of the Japan-based trio to choose club over country after playing for the Wallabies during the Rugby Championship.

Pumas players kicked out of Rugby Championship for border breach

Governing body SANZAAR says the eight team members crossed the Queensland border into NSW yesterday without exemptions and were stopped trying to re-enter Queensland.

The travel was a direct breach of the present Queensland Government health orders and SANZAAR's Rugby Championship tournament biosecurity plan.

SANZAAR has informed Argentina Rugby that all members of this group are now ineligible to participate further in the tournament but Saturday's rugby championship test between Australia and Argentina on the Gold Coast will proceed.

Wallabies youngster eyes positional switch ahead of Los Pumas test

Workhorse Koroibete will miss the final round of the Rugby Championship on the Gold Coast on Saturday, as the Wallabies aim to secure their fourth successive win with another victory over Argentina.

Australia earned a 27-8 defeat over plucky Argentina in Townsville last Saturday, which came after two wins over world champions South Africa.

Koroibete has already flown home to Melbourne to spend time with his young family, which includes a newborn, before Australia’s squad departs in late October for its UK tour.

Further pain for Wallabies with future star's sideline stint extended

The two-time NRL premiership winger with Melbourne has been impressive in his brief appearances so far, with Queensland Reds coach and dual international Brad Thorn claiming he’s done it better than anyone he’s seen.

But three separate hamstring injuries, the most recent coming last week as he prepared to enter Wallabies camp for the Rugby Championship, have restricted him to just eight Super Rugby games.

Pacific Super Rugby teams to finalise squads

The Drua also have to decide where they will be based next season, with Fiji's ongoing Covid-19 problems ruling out plans to play on home soil.

Flying Fijians prop Haereiti Hetet said the Drua was a hot topic of conversation when national squad during their recent test series against the All Blacks.

"It's just like another platform really for Fijian players to showcase their skills for the world stage, in terms of it's a step up from just playing their club and comps and stuff in Fiji and playing against the best," he said.

Former All Blacks skipper urges Australian sides to step up

Governing body SANZAAR has confirmed the 12-team tournament would kick off in 2022, bringing Pacific islands teams into the southern hemisphere provincial competition for the first time.

New Zealand's teams won 23 of 25 games against their Australian opponents in Super Rugby Trans-Tasman in May and June, underlining the gulf between the nations' rugby programmes.

"I think if you look across the board at the competition next year, you're going to probably look at a 90%, 80% win rate for New Zealand teams," Read told Sky Sport.

RA, NZR launch new era with formation of Super Rugby Pacific

The 12-team tournament will see Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika join the five Australian and five New Zealand sides, set to kick off on 18 February 2022.

Teams will play each other once across the 14-week regular season, along with playing three teams twice, with an added focus on delivering more local derbies following the success of Super Rugby AU and Aotearoa.

The final series will see the top eight teams battle it out, with quarters, semis and final as follows:

Rugby Australia hopeful of Perth Bledisloe

But plans for the four-team Rugby Championship, also including world champions South Africa and Argentina, being played solely in Perth look to have been knocked on the head.

The Bledisloe match is scheduled for Optus Stadium on August 28, however doubts surfaced with the All Blacks caught up in New Zealand’s snap lockdown on Tuesday.

Following the outbreak the West Australian government changed the border arrangements so all arrivals from New Zealand must quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.