Original source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56709956
https://therugbystore.com.au/ugo-monye-hopes-new-rfu-group-can-help-everyone-feel-rugby-is-for-them/
Tuesday, April 20, 2021
Ugo Monye hopes new RFU group can help everyone feel rugby is 'for them'
Former England wing Ugo Monye hopes that as chair of a new RFU advisory group he can help everyone feel rugby "is a game for them".
Monday, April 19, 2021
Premiership: Bath 21-20 Leicester Tigers - Will Muir brace of tries secures victory
Ben Spencer converts late try to give Bath a 21-20 win over Leicester and keep alive their hopes of a top-four finish.
Original source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56762441
TJ Perenara: Why he will make it in the NRL – and why he won’t
TJ Perenara has hit the news recently with his potential move from rugby union to the Sydney Roosters in the NRL.
While a fantastic halfback in union, he has somewhat become surplus to requirements for the All Blacks with incumbent Aaron Smith getting the regular start over him and newcomer Folau Fakatava making his way through the ranks.
This has left TJ at a crossroads in his career. Currently in Japan, playing for the Red Hurricanes on sabbatical. He had intended to return to New Zealand to take up a new contract with the Hurricanes and All Blacks and continue to push Aaron Smith for starting halfback honours.
However, his plans seem to have come awry with the form of Smith and Fakatava, leading many to believe he may be on the outside looking in and publicly stating whether New Zealand Rugby should invest the money in a player who while not over the hill, is coming into the twilight of his career.
Jumping all over this turmoil, the Sydney Roosters have reportedly made an offer for the halfback to jump ship to the NRL and ply his trade in the Hooker position for them.
It’s an interesting proposition. There have been a number of players move from league to union who have played to a high level in recent years, Sonny Bill Williams being the most noteworthy of these.
It’s harder to find a successful player jumping ship from union to league at this stage in their career and being competitive.
With that being said, here are three reasons why TJ Perenara will be a success in the NRL and three reasons why he will fail.
Reason for success number 1: His Running ability
If you haven’t seen his try against Namibia, stop reading this article right now and YouTube it. OK, welcome back. I’m sure you had to watch it a few times to appreciate how incredible it was. It is skills like that that TJ would bring to the NRL.
He would be deadly on a quick play the ball, sniping around the ruck and hitting the gaps. He is a strong ball runner with good offloading skills which would allow him to play like an extra big man on attack.
If he signs for the Roosters, Tedesco will love running off his shoulder when TJ picks and goes from dummy half, just waiting for an offload. He has experience in union playing as the first playmaker from the ruck, so would be comfortable stepping away and initiating the offense at first receiver. His running ability would already be up there for hookers in the NRL.
Reason for success number 2: Toughness and size
He is a unit for a hooker in the NRL. 6 foot tall and over 90kg. He compares favourably in size to the current crop of hookers running around, out-sizing the likes of Damien Cook, Apisai Koroisau, Harry Grant and Reed Mahoney comfortably. He puts this size to good use in union, acting like a third flanker on the field, getting his head in and over the ball in rucks.
He’s not afraid to mix it up with the big boys and he would get plenty of this in the NRL game. His size is also an advantage on the attacking end, as mentioned earlier, his offloading ability would translate well to the NRL and he has great tackle breaking ability with a strong fend.
Reason for success number 3: His passing ability
One skill required of modern All Blacks halfbacks is the ability to provide the backline with front foot ball. This needs to come from sharp, quick passing from the base of the ruck. TJ is one of the best at this and would be able to give the playmakers in the Roosters accurate passes in space.
He is used to expending energy getting from sideline to sideline to then make crisp passes to his outside men and would have no issue getting to each tackle in league.
He has a keen eye for the extravagant pass and if he breaks the second line would have no trouble dropping off a short ball for a rampaging fullback coming through with him.
While the skills above would help him in his transition to the NRL game, these are three reasons why he will struggle to be successful if he does move over.
TJ Perenara (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
Reason for failure number 1: Differences in the game
Yes the codes are different, clearly. Making the transition from union to league is like going from coffee to decaf, it looks the same but there are some fundamental differences. The pace of the game would be a huge factor in TJ struggling.
With the six again rule and the limited scrums and penalties in the game now, League is fast. union, with it’s lineouts, scrums and myriad penalties is a slower game.
While a halfback in union gets around the field a lot, the break in play allows for them to regain their breath. An IRB report in 2011 stated that the actual gameplay for a union game is 35 minutes after stoppages while a league game averages 62 minutes.
Good luck to TJ catching up to that without a full offseason of training.
Reason for failure number 2: Tackling stamina
The most tackles ever recorded in an NRL game was from Elijah Taylor with 77, the most in a union game was 38 by Thierry Dusautoir. Currently Jayden Brailey is the leading tackler in the NRL and he is averaging 53 a game, 15 more than the most ever in a union game.
TJ for the Hurricanes and All Blacks is currently averaging about 4-6 tackles every game, he has to bump that up about 40 tackles to match the majority of league hookers.
That is simply unattainable for him without rigorous training. This is the biggest reason he would struggle in the transition, especially if he is being played exclusively at hooker.
Reason for failure number 3: No one else has done it
Simply put, no one has made the transition from halfback to hooker, going from union to league and been successful. While I wouldn’t completely write TJ off just yet, him becoming a success wouldn’t just be unlikely, it would be inconceivable.
To start him off, he would probably fill the 14 role for the Roosters, coming off the bench and having stints at hooker and in the halves. Even this would be a stretch for the man, to move into a crucial playmaking position in a sport that he has not played since he was a child.
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Will he or won’t he? If reports are to be believed, it is simply a matter of days before it is announced that he has signed with the Roosters.
He has the tools, the toughness and the heart to become a success in the NRL but it will be a monumental challenge and one that no-one has ever achieved before.
It will be his Everest. I for one, will be watching, supporting and rooting for him to succeed. However, I only wish it was for the Warriors!
Original source: https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/04/19/tj-perenara-why-he-will-make-it-in-the-nrl-and-why-he-wont/
https://therugbystore.com.au/tj-perenara-why-he-will-make-it-in-the-nrl-and-why-he-wont/
Sunday, April 18, 2021
Robinson confirms interest in Perenara
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has confirmed the side are in talks to bring All Blacks star TJ Perenara to the NRL club to help solve their injury crisis.
Speaking after the Roosters’ loss to Melbourne on Friday night, Robinson said the club were interested in the Kiwi ace, after Perenara’s manager revealed this week the parties were negotiating.
“We’ve talked, but it’s preliminary at this stage,” Robinson said.
“That got it out there pretty quickly – we’ve had talks and we’ll see where it gets to.”
Asked whether he believed Perenara, who has 69 New Zealand Test caps but has never played rugby league, could make a quick transition, Robinson said such talk was premature.
(Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Let’s be happy with the report of discussions, but let’s not get too far ahead – how’s he going to play in the first game and all that.
“We’ll take it step by step.”
Robinson said former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika, who now works part-time with the Roosters, hadn’t been involved in the discussions.
The Roosters have another in, with Perenara’s former All Blacks teammate Sonny Bill Williams playing out his league career with the Tricolours.
Perenara is playing his rugby for NTT Red Hurricanes in the Japan Top League but is known to be a fan of rugby league, with his father Thomas and cousin Henry both former players, the latter now an NRL referee.
While Perenara has played all his rugby at halfback, it’s believed the Roosters are looking at the star as a hooker. The two positions across the codes are similar in attack.
His biggest challenge would be getting up to speed with league’s defensive patterns.
With veteran rake Jake Friend forced into retirement and a spate of injuries, Ben Marschke played in the number nine jumper against the Storm and suffered a late head knock but cleared his HIA test.
Perenara’s deal with New Zealand Rugby is up at the end of 2021, although if given permission he could join the Roosters at the end of the Japan season next month and be available mid-June.
Original source: https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/04/17/robinson-confirms-interest-in-perenara/
https://therugbystore.com.au/robinson-confirms-interest-in-perenara/
Scotland 20-41 Italy: Visitors cruise to victory in Women's Six Nations
Captain Manuela Furlan scored a hat-trick as Italy cruised to victory over Scotland in their Women's Six Nations clash in Glasgow.
Original source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56786547
https://therugbystore.com.au/scotland-20-41-italy-visitors-cruise-to-victory-in-womens-six-nations/
Saturday, April 17, 2021
Rugby union needs to simplify the rule book
Another season, another competition, and another set of law changes for the newly formed Rainbow Cup involving teams from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and (hopefully) South Africa.
The only constant change in the game of rugby union seems to be the various and differing set of laws being introduced with each new season, all in the name of making the game more attractive.
However, these continuous law changes haven’t done much good, except for making the game even more complicated to follow as a spectator and participate in as a player and referee.
World Rugby’s infatuation with constant law changes season after season is becoming a continual burden on the game. With each season that passes, there is constant tinkering and meddling of rugby’s laws by the officials running the game. Some have had the desired impact of making the game more free-flowing.
What is being touted is the red-card replacement after 20 minutes for the Rainbow Cup, which I fully agree with. It makes for an overall fairer contest, not leaving teams and fans shortchanged by watching an unequal contest. Laws such as creating space by back lines being five metres from a scrum, as an example, have benefited the game overall, allowing for more space for players to attack with the ball.
The new laws of late have left much to be desired, as has been voiced by various players, in particular Crusaders captain Scott Barrett and Blues forwards coach Tom Coventry during Super Rugby Aotearoa in New Zealand.
(Photo by Kai Schwoerer/Getty Images)
“I like to see teams rewarded for constant attacking pressure, and getting held up over try line and getting a scrum off the back of that is good for the game,” Coventry said regarding the goal-line drop out instead of five-metre scrums for the attacking team being held up over the try line.
He makes a salient point about rewarding the attacking team. Rugby has become so defence-orientated that this law change again favours the team without the ball as if rugby needs the deck stacked more against teams on attack.
The captain’s call, which allows the captain of a team to query a passage of foul play or knock-on leading up to a scoring opportunity, only confuses the refs and fans alike. Barrett said: “It just slows up play. There’s TMOs for a reason, the game is already becoming stop-start enough. The refs, as well as the assistants, they’ve got good eyes for the game. You don’t want the game slowing down and the refs second-guessing their own decisions.”
This came after a captain’s call that benefitted the Crusaders in their clash against the Hurricanes a few weeks back.
One of the main reasons football has been and remains such a globally popular sport is because their laws haven’t changed dramatically over a long period of time.
Yes, VAR has certainly created animosity and frustration of late. However, overall, football has remained popular because of the simplicity of the game’s laws.
(Albert Perez/Getty Images)
Rugby is of course a far more complicated game with many more moving parts during its contest and thus all the more reason for trying to simplify the game, as opposed to adding more rules or changing the existing laws under the guise of creating a more attractive game without any real benefit to the game in its applications.
These laws only serve to make the game more of a stop-start affair and more defence-orientated, with a lack of reward for the team with the ball and further confounding referees and TMOs in their decision-making whereby they are doubting themselves further.
This alludes to constant criticism of referees by the pundits and fans alike. Instead of celebrating the skills of players, inevitably the newspaper scribes will be writing about the ref’s performance and what they got wrong over the weekend.
While hindsight is 20/20, the rules and laws of the game need serious introspection and that introspection should be one of simplifying a complicated game.
World Rugby need to look at the rule book and draw from past experiences and experimentations of laws and decide once and for all what rules and laws will stay and what needs to be consigned to scrap heap for good.
With that said, the implementation of laws giving favour to the team with the ball in hand at the time should always be favoured. Rugby has become a game where it’s easier to play without the ball, which goes against the very reasons we enjoy and watch the sport.
I just hope those changes will be for the benefit of the game as a whole for one final time and not be changed for the sake of change.
Original source: https://www.theroar.com.au/2021/04/17/rugby-union-needs-to-simplify-the-rule-book/
https://therugbystore.com.au/rugby-union-needs-to-simplify-the-rule-book/
Premiership: Northampton Saints 44-26 London Irish - Six-try Saints move into top four
Alex Mitchell and Ollie Sleightholme score two tries apiece as Northampton beat London Irish to move into the Premiership's top four.
Original source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56761124
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