Brumbies punished with icy night drill
Tony Rea’s post-match verbal attack was nothing compared to what he put his players through last night.
Waratahs out to rediscover their ‘beautiful’ game
Coach Chris Hickey believes his team can rekindle their expansive style of play as the finals approach.
Ioane becomes new focus
Wallabies fear they will lose spectacular utility back Digby Ioane
Jake White says four-year term is key
Jake negotiated another 4 year deal
Brumbies get a taste of Kamp Staaldraad
In an unprecedented move, Rea cancelled yesterday afternoon’s training session to instead push his team to the limit in Canberra’s icy conditions at Griffith Oval at 9pm.
And Rea showed no mercy as his players battled the dropping temperature for the first time this season in a secret session.
To add further punishment to the playing group, Rea, his coaching staff and the squad were only allowed to wear singlets and shorts.
Rea blasted his players with some explosive criticism following his team’s loss to the Johannesburg Lions last weekend.
He called them soft, and their season a charade and declared they had no chance of winning back any respect in the remaining five games of the Super Rugby season.
Tahs out to rediscover their ‘beautiful’ game
Coach Chris Hickey believes his team can rekindle their expansive style of play as the finals approach.
The Waratahs have won two games in succession but the response to those victories has been overwhelmingly negative, setting up an intriguing month as the team’s finals hopes will be realised or shattered with games against the Lions, Sharks, Bulls and Highlanders.
”We’re in the hunt, we’ve got to win this weekend, next weekend, and the one after that. We’ve also got to play beautiful rugby so the crowds come back … there are a lot of blokes turning up here busted and putting in week in, week out for this side, and we’re doing our best,” Barnes said.
”At the moment we sit four points off fourth spot, we’re in a good position and it’s in our hands, and that’s the best part about it, we’ve got control of our own destiny.
”We’re not waiting on other sides, if we want it and we’re good enough we can make the finals, and if we don’t, we’ve only got ourselves to look at.
”I’d rather be in that position … you’d like to be where the Reds are but not everyone can have their wishes, and there are a lot of other teams in a lot worse spots than us.
”It’s hard because we’re putting in as best we can. We’re not trying to play ugly rugby. We’d desperately like to get it out, and the first few weeks we were able to do that but we also had a lot of different cattle on the field.
”Guys that have come in have been third- and fourth-string hookers at the start of the year are making good contributions now, they’re getting good time and we’re getting used to them now.
”Sydney is a hard market, they expect success over here. Unfortunately, over the years the Tahs haven’t been able to win the title but that’s not through lack of trying, and as I said, we’re in a good position, we can control our own destiny.
”We can move forward in the comp and make the finals or we can fade out, it’s up to us.”
Usually as the play-offs approach, the games become far more defence-oriented, but Hickey has no doubt his players can recapture the sparkling attacking form they displayed earlier this season, which he described as true Waratahs rugby.
”That first month was how we’d worked all pre-season to try to play, unfortunately with injuries we’ve lost key players in key positions and it’s not only the loss of those players, but then the next week you lose more, so you’re not forming combinations,” Hickey said.
”That’s important particularly when you look at the backs. We’re looking to get some of those players back, if not before Africa then after, that helps. The style of football we’re trying to play was really on show in that first month of the season and we’ve been working hard to try to find that form again.”
Hickey also welcomed the fearsome tackling of Lions hardman Butch James, who was released from Bath to tour Australasia in his first Super Rugby outing since 2007.
”I think some of Butch James’s hits early on in his career were terrific, technically he’s adjusted to put more arms in the tackle,” Hickey said.
”That aggressive contact is something that we shouldn’t be shying away from, you’ve just got to make sure you adjust your technique so there are arms in the tackle, but over the last couple of seasons he has modified his technique anyhow.”
Wallabies fear they will lose spectacular utility back Digby Ioane
The Wallabies are hopeful of re-signing their star five-eighth Quade Cooper for at least another year, there are serious fears they will lose spectacular utility back Digby Ioane to Japan next season.
Australian officials are concerned that Ioane, whose contract expires at the end of this year’s World Cup, has been somewhat elusive in recent weeks and not been keen to get involved in renegotiations. While originally told that Ioane didn’t want to discuss his contract until later in the season because he was returning to the Queensland Reds late due to injury, the ARU are now worried that the Japanese club Kubota may have already lured him with a lucrative million-dollar-plus offer.
It is understood that people involved in Ioane’s business dealings have close contacts with Japanese rugby, in particular the Kubota club, where former Reds back-rower Toutai Kefu moved following a successful career with the Wallabies.
Adding to the Ioane lure is that former Reds teammate Hugh McMeniman is playing with the club, with sources claiming that the pair will probably live together in Japan if Ioane agrees to the move.
An ARU official said last night: ”We are worried about this situation, and know we could lose Digby.”
Jake White says four-year term is key
New ACT Brumbies coach Jake White hopes his four-year deal will make the players “pull their fingers out” when he begins his tenure in July.
White arrived in Canberra on Monday night and he is not wasting any time sorting out his playing roster and staff for the 2011 season.
The former South African World Cup-winning coach will fly to Sydney today with Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan.
They will meet with George Gregan to discuss a possible consultant coaching role as well as a number of potential player recruits.
And while current coach Tony Rea battles to get the team firing for the remaining five rounds of the Super Rugby season, White said the length of his deal was crucial to getting the Brumbies back on track in the future.
“All credit to the Brumbies because they were prepared to make it a four-year deal, it just sends the right message to the players,” White said. “It says the coach is going to be here for a while so you better start pulling up your socks because if you don’t you don’t want to be here.
“Imagine what it’s been like for Tony, he’s trying to get the best out of players but in six weeks he won’t be here.
“Players around the world know if the coach is going to be around, they better pull their fingers out.”
White hopes to have the majority of his recruitment and retention finished by the time he leaves Canberra at the end of the week.
He also hopes to have his coaching structure finalised with Laurie Fisher and Stephen Larkham expected to be his assistants.
White will also meet with some of the players he will be in charge of next year.
The Brumbies are preparing for their match against the Western Force in Perth on Saturday night.
They sunk to a new low when they lost to the Johannesburg Lions at Canberra Stadium last week.
White sympathised with the team’s struggle but said his brief visit to the capital would not be a catalyst for an turnaround against the Force.
“I’m not involved in the team now so I’m not here to wave a wand and expect the team to play well against the Force,” White said. “I’ve been there, it’s very difficult when the downward spiral comes. But the thing about being in this situation is that you can get it right.
“I’ve been through those dark times and you learn a lot about people and about teams.”