Temperatures topped 30 degrees Celsius in parts of England over the weekend, but fans of Manchester City were still not allowed to bring sunscreen into their stadium for the team’s most recent game.
Key points:
Manchester City beat Bournemouth 4-0 in a Saturday afternoon game over the weekend
City’s supporter services tweeted that fans would have to apply sunscreen before arriving at the match because it would not be allowed into the stadium
A UK melanoma charity replied, saying “this is very worrying”
The sun was beating down on the crowd at the Etihad Stadium, during Saturday’s 4-0 win over Bournemouth, but according to City, fans were not permitted to bring any sunblock into the ground.
The club’s supporter services Twitter account flagged the importance of staying hydrated at the game, but when a fan asked if they could bring sun protection to the game, they were told no.
“We advise supporters to apply this before coming and to bring a hat and water,” the account replied, linking to a ‘Matchdays at Etihad Stadium’ page on their website that did not detail the sunscreen policy.
The account later tweeted that the city’s metro rail was struggling due to the heat, advising people to walk home from the afternoon game “where possible.”
Charity Melanoma UK jumped into the replies dumbfounded.
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When one Twitter user pointed out that this was not a unique policy at major sporting events, the charity suggested a simple answer.
“Dispensers in all the stadiums,” it tweeted.
“If they are going to allow thousands of fans to sit in the blazing sun, at least acknowledge this is a problem.
“A few burns in early life can lead to skin cancer later on. It’s not that difficult.”
A number of stadiums in Australia and around the world already provide dispensers at the ground.
The United Kingdom has sweltered through a record-breaking summer, with temperatures topping 40C at times.
Drought was also declared in parts of southern, central and eastern England.
The Knights have launched an investigation after footage emerged of star fullback Kalyn Ponga and utility Kurt Mann being escorted out of a toilet cubicle.
In the vision which has been circulating in the last 24 hours, security from the venue can be seen directing Ponga and Mann away from the toilets
According to The Daily Telegraph, Newcastle learned of the video on Monday morning and have since questioned Put over the footage.
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It is currently unclear when the video was captured or why Ponga and Mann were in the cubicle together.
The 24-year-old has been ruled out for the season after failing his third HIA of the season in Round 19.
Ponga revealed to Triple M on Sunday he could have returned for the final round of the season claiming “there’s nothing wrong with me” but the club are taking a cautious approach.
Ponga’s dad Andre has since given an excuse as to why the Maroons gun was in the cubicle with Mann.
“He made an exciting house purchase Saturday and celebrated with a few mates drinking. Sick in the toilet and his mate went in to help him, ”Andre Ponga said to The Daily Telegraph.
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The Knights marquee man signed a mega five-year $5-million contract in April to remain in the Hunter until at least the end of 2027.
Mann has also spent an extended period sidelined with a quad injury.
Adam O’Brien’s side are currently struggling in 14th place on the ladder, suffering a 28-10 loss at the hands of the Broncos in Round 22.
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Nathan Buckley has gone through his five biggest takeaways from the weekend of footy.
Buckley has touched on Ben Cunnington, Jake Melksham, Tom Lynch, Dane Rampe, and Jake Lever.
Cunnington’s inspiring return to football
“At the end of Round 22, we’re a week away from the finals, and winning and losing seems to be the most important thing.
“It means a little less to me.
“The number one story I think out of the weekend was Ben Cunnington and his return after two bouts of cancer for North Melbourne.
“For a club that’s won two games for the year, lost their coach, has nothing to play for, but a universally respected player and person in Ben Cunnington, to see the human side that exists underneath this game, it’s a professional game that we all love, that story alone I think was brilliant for the club.
“It’s brilliant to see that Ben’s up and about and has a chance to play the game that he loves.
“I thought it was well handled by the North Melbourne footy club and Ben himself, so all credit.”
Melksham establishes himself in Melbourne’s side
“Halfway through the year his skirmish with Steven May and the words that were exchanged were seen as nearly something that wasn’t going to be overcome.
“But his performance on the weekend was first class.
“Whether the words were, ‘we wouldn’t have won the flag if you’d have played’, whether it’s anything like that, that sticks to a player.
“His contested mark with a minute-and-a-half to play gave Melbourne a chance.
“15 disposals, seven marks, four goals playing as a defensive forward, looks after the leading intercept marker of the opposition, and he’s established himself.
“Wherever Melbourne goes, he’s going to be there, because he’s played an important role recently.”
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Lynch cherry ripe approaching finals
“Eight goals at the ‘G yesterday (Sunday) at three-quarter time.
“He’s kicked 55 for the year. This guy could well be the joker in the pack for Richmond going into the finals.
“Taking clunks and pack marks is pivotal in finals football and in big games.
“You take three or four clunks in the forward 50 in a big game, in a tight game, final on the MCG, that’s going to make a difference.
“I think he’s cherry ripe to have a big September.”
Rampe’s defensive effort to deny Mihocek
“Dane Rampe’s goal in the first quarter was amazing, but his defensive effort to stop Brody Mihocek kicking a goal in the middle of the last quarter was a significant moment.
“When you get great games and great contests like that… it’s key moments that make the difference.
“Dane Rampe, as one of the captains of the club, stood up.”
Lever’s role in match-winning Demons play
“Right at the end of the Saturday night game, Jayden Hunt took that ground ball and was able to kick it in long.
“But to get the ball in the first place, it was squared up by Jake Lever, it was a great heads up play to put the ball in a dangerous position.
“Did they (Carlton) get enough numbers back behind the ball? Because when that ball went in it was actually even numbers, you can’t have that when you’re defending less than a one-goal lead with seconds remaining.
“But Jake Lever was able to get his hand on the ball … that kick was just a blind, 90-degree, perpendicular kick into the middle of the field, (Jesse) Motlop was the only Carlton player against three Melbourne players, Hunt swooped on it and was able to get it down for Kysaiah (Pickett) to finish off.
“A great heads up play by an experienced player. It would’ve been coached, but you’ve still got to keep your head in the moment to trust and to execute when it matters.”
The Essendon hierarchy will “rue” the decision not to pursue four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson, Fox Footy’s David King has warned as the Bombers hit a new low on Sunday.
Players were booed by their own fans as they left Marvel Stadium after the 84-point loss to fellow non-finals contender Port Adelaide.
King said questions needed to be asked of the decision to implement the Ben Rutten handover from John Worsfold back in 2020.
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“For six months, if not 12 months, Alastair Clarkson has been sitting idle ready to be grabbed by a football club,” King said on First Crack.
“Why haven’t Essendon taken that step?
“Right now they lack system, they lack motivation and they lack standards as a footy club and I reckon the Essendon faithful are sick of it.
“Why are they gambling on a coach that is still developing when the absolute finished product is there?
“OK you’ve got to jump through a lot of hoops to get over the line, but if (Clarkson) signs at North Melbourne this week and Essendon could have got him with the list they’ve got right now, I think it’s a mistake they will rule for years.”
Essendon Press Conference | 03:59
Rutten remains contracted until the end of 2023, but has managed just seven wins this season.
The loss to Port Adelaide is their worst for 2022, and both the worst defeat and the most points conceded under Rutten.
King said matches late in a season showed the faith in a coach and the set up at a club when there was nothing but pride to play for.
“It’s very hard to get motivated and that’s when you find out what sort of football club you’ve got,” he said.
“That’s when you find out, can your coach continue to drive standards and continue to enforce non-negotiables?
“I’m looking at the Essendon hierarchy – are they ruthless enough from the top down?
“The 2020 Worsfold handover year, six and a half wins – Rutten was in charge of the tactical side of the game then. They won 11 games last year, they’ve won six this year.”
King showed vision from the second quarter when Bombers players were walking and allowing their opponents to get forward of the ball.
“This is Essendon in a nutshell,” King lamented.
Port Adelaide Press Conference | 03:57
“How lax is this? Have a look at them just standing around, ambling around. This is the forward 50. There’s 10 players within arms reach of this stoppage. That (game style) is going nowhere.
“I can’t understand what they look at when they review games at the moment if that is the output of a weekend.
“We can only judge the actions they put in front of us – that is not AFL standard.”
King said now was the time for “honest conversations” at the club after 2021’s surprising finals finish.
“I’m not just talking about the captain and vice-captain, I mean the whole football club,” he said.
“These guys have signed Ben Rutten – if they have to assess their own role in the football club and move on well so be it.
“When was the last time Essendon were genuinely ruthless as a football club? It was a long time ago.”
Speaking after the shocking loss, Rutten apologized to the club’s fans for the lack of effort on Sunday.
“It was the sort of game that our members and supporters who came to the game or were watching on TV… it’s not the sort of thing they should have to watch,” he said.
“It was an embarrassing effort from our guys. It’s not something we want to stand for and not something our members and supporters should have to watch at any stage.”
Wests Tigers hope to use a new $78 million center of excellence as a launchpad for a long-overdue era of dominance on the field.
As the club gave 9News an exclusive look into the Concord mega-centre on Sunday, a training field, NRL and NRLW dressing rooms, a gym, a swimming pool, a sauna and a steam room were shown off.
But there’s more.
The club now also has its own barber.
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Wests Tigers have opened their new $78 million Concord master-hub — and it comes with one bizarre feature. (GettyImages)
The master-hub, inspired by the New York Jets and Los Angeles Dodgers, is a far cry from the shabby venues in which the Tigers ran a high-performance rugby league program for more than 20 years.
It’s fitting that the center of excellence has opened just in time for the start of the Tim Sheens-Benji Marshall succession plan, as the club attempts to move beyond a decade void of finals football.
“To have one ground where it’s a one-stop shop, (where) we can do all our things from here — I think it’s going to be a massive boost for the players,” Wests Tigers forward Alex Twal told 9News.
“When you’re coming to a new club and you see these sort of facilities and these sort of opportunities to work in and around this new space — I think it’s definitely going to be something that people and players would look forward to.”
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During Sheens’ tenure as head coach between 2003 and 2012, he oversaw a weights program out of shipping containers.
Life at Wests Tigers is now much easier as Sheens, the club’s director of football, prepares for his second stint as head coach of the joint venture.
Sheens, the man who led Wests Tigers to the 2005 NRL premiership, will steer the club in the 2023 and 2024 seasons, before Marshall — then a 20-year-old wonderkid in the title-winning team — takes over on a three-year contract.
Wests Tigers icons Tim Sheens and Benji Marshall pictured in 2007. (Craig Golding)
Marshall, now 37, will serve as Sheens’ assistant for two years before jumping into the hot seat.
Wests Tigers chief executive Justin Pascoe is rapt with the center of excellence, but he warns the glamorous digs don’t guarantee a return to the glory days.
“We’re not silly enough to think that just because we’re going into a world-class facility that automatically defines a change in results,” Pascoe said.
“In the end it comes down to the culture and the people and the standards, and we’re very firm on that.”
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Paul Green’s life in pictures: From Sharks prodigy to premiership-winning coach
The latest London derby between Chelsea and Tottenham was a thriller that ended in a 2-2 draw because of a goal deep into stoppage time by Harry Kane, but that ended up as an afterthought.
Key points:
Former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte got into a scuffle with Thomas Tuchel after the Blues-Spurs derby
Tuchel took issue with Conte not looking at him in the eye when they shook hands
Both managers said they “enjoyed” the clash and played it down
The managers stole the spotlight after an explosive end to the game at Stamford Bridge, just like there was in 2016 when Tottenham’s title challenge ended with a 2-2 draw against Chelsea and both sets of players and coaches clashed repeatedly on and off the field.
Six years on, Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel and Tottenham boss Antonio Conte shook hands on the field after the final whistle, but Tuchel seemed to not let go of his grip and intimated that Conte look him in the eye.
They squared up and shouted in each others’ faces, before players and coaches from both teams piled in, pushing and shoving.
Thomas Tuchel (left) says both managers were “fighting for [their] teams”.(Getty Images: Marc Atkins)
Tuchel and Conte were then shown straight red cards and there is the potential for a further ban.
The pair had clashed during the match, too, when Conte celebrated Tottenham’s first equalizer by Pierre-Emile Højbjerg in the 68th minute.
Conte went up to Tuchel and barged into his chest, sparking a melee among the coaching staff and substitutes as Tuchel pointed to Conte and told him to stay in his part of the technical area.
Then, after Reece James put Chelsea back in front in the 77th, Tuchel set off on a sprint past Conte and down the touchline, clenching his fist in delight.
“I thought when we shake hands you looked in each other eyes, but Antonio had a different opinion,” Tuchel said of the post-match clash with former Blues manager Conte.
Conte (right) says next time he will make sure he looks his opposing manager in the eyes when shaking hands.(Getty Images: Marc Atkins)
“He was happy when they equalized and it got a bit heated, but nothing big… I think it was not necessary but a lot of things were not necessary.”
Conte said the referee “didn’t understand the dynamic of what happened … it would be a pity if, for this situation, we miss the next game.”
The Italian manager said he would “pay more attention” next time when he shakes hands with his German counterpart, but both managers said they “enjoyed” the clash.
Thomas Tuchel (left) holds on a bit longer than Antonio Conte (right) may have liked when the pair shake hands after the game.(Getty Images: Marc Atkins)
“I think that, for what happened we did enjoy it,” Conte said, agreeing with an earlier statement from Tuchel.
“Next time we’ll pay more attention, just shake the hand and solve the problem. I’ll stay on my bench, he’ll stay on his bench.”
Tuchel also played down the clash, saying they were simply “fighting for our teams.”
“Nobody got insulted, nobody got hurt, we didn’t have a fist fight or something,” he said.
“For me, it’s not a big deal. It was part of it today and it boiled of course and it featured us. Both nothing bad.”
German racing legend Ralf Schumacher has pleaded for Alpine not to block Oscar Piastri’s path to Formula 1, arguing the team only has itself to blame for losing the prodigy driver.
Australian star Daniel Ricciardo became embroiled in F1’s mid-year silly season following reports he will be replaced by young compatriot Piastri at McLaren next year.
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The messy contract situation erupted after two-time world champion Fernando Alonso blindsided the F1 world and jumped into Sebastian Vettel’s vacated seat at Aston Martin.
Alpine then announced Piastri would replace Alonso in 2023, only for the 21-year-old Melburnian to reject the seat — a bold move for someone who is yet to drive in F1.
The Enstone team asserts that Piastri, Alpine’s reserve driver for 2022, should respect the contract, but the Victorian believes the commitment is not valid because an option clause expired.
The matter could be settled to the courtroom – Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer threatened to file a civil lawsuit to recover the millions of dollars spent on training Piastri this season.
“I expected more loyalty from Oscar than he is showing,” Szafnauer told Spanish publication The confidential.
“I started in 1989 in Formula 1 and I’ve never seen anything like this. And it’s not about Formula 1, it’s about integrity as a human being.
“For me, the way I grew up, I don’t need to sign a piece of paper and then have someone say, ‘You’re lying, because you signed this’.”
According to French publication Auto Hebdothe FIA’s Driver Contract Recognition Board has found that both Piastri’s Alpine and McLaren contracts are valid.
speaking to Sky F1 in GermanySchumacher argued Alpine’s contract woes were self-inflicted, calling on the F1 team to respect Piastri’s wishes.
“Piastri has done everything right,” he started.
“Now we can only hope that the sore loser – in this case Alpine – doesn’t put obstacles in the boy’s path. Piastri was with them, they had everything in hand, all they had to do was give him a contract.
“I’m sorry. I like Otmar, but he will be disappointed in his own performance, that he did not see it coming with Alonso and that he does not have a plan B. That’s the embarrassing thing about the whole saga.
“Accordingly, he has to blame himself. Oscar did nothing wrong. At the end of the day, Alpine could have questioned Alonso earlier and made it clear to Piastri that they would be relying on him in the future.
“He won Formula 3 in his first year, and Formula 2 as well. What should he be waiting for? I would have done the same if I had been offered a job.
“One thing was clear; Alpine wasn’t interested in putting Piastri in the car next year at the beginning because they saw that young drivers need a certain amount of time (until they arrive in Formula 1).
“They wanted to put him somewhere else for one or two years. There was an option from Alpine to (put Piastri in the cockpit), but it wasn’t taken because they didn’t expect Fernando Alonso to leave.
“When you have such a jewel, it’s criminal to let him go. If you’re then unable to get the contracts right yourself, you can’t blame the young man.
“You also have to remember one thing; Piastri’s manager Mark Webber has a very, very close relationship with McLaren team boss Andreas Seidl.”
On Friday, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem claimed the contract issue would be solved through their own means instead of in the courtroom.
“The FIA’s Driver Contract Recognition Board (CRB) was set up to deal with contract priority issues between drivers and F1 teams,” he tweeted.
“That’s why we rely on their decision to resolve any conflict.”
Meanwhile, Ricciardo is reportedly seeking a whopping $21 million payout to walk away from his contract with McLaren.
The 33-year-old is reportedly only party who can break his contract with the team, which expires at the end of 2023.
A payout would clear the way for McLaren to officially sign Piastri.
Last month, Justin Longmuir was asked an interesting question about his spearhead Matt Taberner and provided an interesting answer.
On whether Taberner could become a liability at some point given his ongoing injury issues, Longmuir responded: “Maybe at some point, but we’re definitely not there yet.”
Six weeks on, the management of not just one, but three injury-affected forwards is looming as the defining issue of Fremantle’s finals campaign.
If they’re available, Taberner, leading goal kicker Rory Lobb and captain Nat Fyfe all appear automatic selections in an individual sense.
But it will be fascinating to see whether the cumulative risk is something the Dockers might baulk at.
If Fremantle take Taberner, Lobb and Fyfe into their first final, it would mean having three players in their forward line who have each broken down during their previous two games.
Throw in Sam Switkowski off a long-term back injury, and that’s four forwards with compromised preparations.
Since first hurting his shoulder against Sydney in round 18, Lobb has played a starring role against the Western Bulldogs, with four goals under the Marvel Stadium roof in round 21, to go with two goalless games in the wet.
Fremantle’s leading goalkicker Rory Lobb injured his shoulder in the second half of this season. Credit: Jackson Flindell/The West Australian
Regardless of whether he is physically comfortable with rucking in the finals, Lobb has been Fremantle’s most viable forward target this season.
He’s kicked a career-high 34 goals in 19 games to be the leading goal kicker for a team that will enter September as the lowest-scoring finalist.
In other words, he’s pretty indispensable.
Approaching 31 and with more than 20 operations behind him, Fyfe is no longer the dual Brownlow Medal-winning midfield wrecking ball he once was.
His return from a double shoulder reconstruction followed by serious back surgery was always likely to be a rocky road, and when he had just one kick, to go with 14 handballs, in the loss to Sydney in round 18 it was a pothole.
A week earlier, Fyfe kicked three goals to go with 21 touches in the win over St Kilda. He also took four marks inside 50 and had 10 score involvements that night in a hybrid forward-midfield role.
It was the kind of performance that showed even the 2022 version of Fyfe is capable of having a fair say in the club’s final fortunes.
Nat Fyfe has been battling injuries for a number of seasons. Credit: Iain Gillespie/The West Australian
Mick Malthouse infamously left John Worsfold out of a final in 1998, but the captain being told he’s not wanted is not a scenario that will be repeating here.
Which leaves Taberner.
When the key forward booted seven goals against Essendon in round five, it was the biggest bag kicked by a Docker since Matthew Pavlich a decade ago.
As Longmuir recently noted, Freo aren’t exactly overflowing with players who are capable of kicking bags.
Since then, Taberner has kicked 12 majors in 10 games and been subbed out with injury three times.
Should the Dockers take care of business against 16th-placed Greater Western Sydney in the final round, they will enter their first final off three straight wins but with Taberner having played just 67 minutes of those three games.
An injured Matt Taberner passes on advice to Fremantle teammate Jye Amiss and Peel’s Blair Bell at the weekend. Credit: daniel wilkins/The West Australian
Complicating the equation is the fact Taberner impressed with eight marks and two goals in those 67 minutes before getting injured in round 21 against the Bulldogs, a team Fremantle could end up facing in an elimination final.
And muddying the waters further still is that a Taberner recall for the first final could require a brutal selection call on somebody else.
If you want to play Taberner, Lobb, Fyfe and Griffin Logue forward, with regular smalls Michael Walters, Michael Frederick, Lachie Schultz and Sam Switkowski, then eight into the normal seven places allotted won’t go.
The Dockers might feel more comfortable about bringing Taberner in for their first final if he got through a WAFL game on the pre-finals bye weekend.
Nat Fyfe and Matt Taberner are not certain to be fit for finals. Credit: JOEL CARRETT/AAPIMAGE
But if pushing for that contributed to any sort of setback, his final series would be over before it began.
The old adage about not taking injured players into finals is pretty hollow. Important players bravely play through injury all year to get their side into the finals in the first place.
Brisbane famously won the 2003 flag after using 18 vials of painkillers on players.
And the medical sub rule might provide the Dockers with an added layer of comfort about rolling the dice with their forwards.
There’s plenty of water to go under the bridge and a fresh injury to somebody against the Giants might mean all of the pieces fall into place.
Regardless, Fremantle’s selection meeting leading into their first final is shaping as their biggest of the year.
The FIA has finally broken its silence on the Oscar Piastri contract saga, confirming the ongoing dispute between McLaren and Alpine will be resolved without having to go to court.
Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo became embroiled in F1’s mid-year silly season following reports he will be replaced by young compatriot Piastri at McLaren next year.
The news erupted last week after two-time world champion Fernando Alonso blindsided the F1 world and jumped into Sebastian Vettel’s vacated seat at Aston Martin.
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Alpine then announced Piastri would be the man to replace Alonso, only for the 21-year-old Melburnian to reject the seat — a bold move for someone who is yet to drive in F1.
Alpine believes that Piastri should respect the contract, but the Victorian believes the commitment is not valid.
The French team threatened to file a civil lawsuit to recover the millions of dollars in training it has spent on Piastri this season.
“Going to the High Court is over 90 per cent certain that’s what we’ll do,” Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer told Reuters.
“If the CRB (Contract Recognition Board) says, ‘Your license is only valid at Alpine’, and then he (Piastri) says, ‘That’s great, but I’m never driving for them, I’ll just sit out a year ‘, then you’ve got to go to the High Court for compensation.”
McLaren Chief Executive Officer Zak Brown and Otmar Szafnauer. Photo by Andy Hone/Pool via Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
On Friday, FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem claimed the issue would be solved through their own means instead of in the courtroom.
“The FIA’s Driver Contract Recognition Board (CRB) was set up to deal with contract priority issues between drivers and F1 teams,” he tweeted.
“That’s why we rely on their decision to resolve any conflict.”
According to French publication Auto Hebdothe CRB has found that both Piastri’s Alpine and McLaren contracts are valid.
The CRB, a group made up of independent lawyers, was set up to determine the legality of driver contracts and settle disputes between teams.
The body was founded in 1991 after seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher signed for Benetton despite having agreed to discuss a contract with Jordan.
Oscar Piastri of Australia. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images
Szafnauer also hinted at a potential collusion between Piastri’s manager Mark Webber, Alonso and his manager Flavio Briatore.
Webber and Alonso are close friends after their time in F1, while Briatore, who was a former team boss at Bennetton and Renault, has been Alonso’s long-term manager.
“Look, I have no record of it, but this is Formula 1 and maybe in a couple of years someone says that they have evidence of shared information, I would not be surprised,” Szafnauer said.
“I always tell everyone that in Formula 1 you have to act as if everyone knows everything. That there are no secrets in these things. When you ask someone not to say anything, they act like everyone knows.
“That’s how I’ve run my business in Formula 1 for 25 years. And if this (information sharing) has happened, you should not be surprised.”
Meanwhile, former F1 driver turned pundit Christian Danner said Piastri’s tactics “clearly has the handwriting” of Briatore.
They’re the good times. The losses have thrown up the same frailties: accuracy and discipline, or not enough of it for long enough. This weekend’s 48-17 loss exposed another one: Australia’s back three or, specifically, the lack of a genuine fullback. Jordan Petaia, Marika Koroibete and Tom Wright are all good athletes and good footballers but none of them could offer a safe pair of hands under Argentina’s aerial assault. It is terrifying to ponder what the Springboks might do to the same three players in Adelaide in two weeks’ time.
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Australia’s forward pack is capable of battering opposition teams and Rob Valetini’s running lines off set piece were one of the few bright spots in Sunday’s loss. But the pack hasn’t nailed the brief with any regularity. In fact, the only reliable things about the Wallabies at all this season is that they’ll trail at halftime.
Perhaps that is to be expected from a team as buffeted by injuries as this one has been. Call Australia A, Australia ‘C’, for the forseeable future, because there’s a XV of potential starters on the sidelines right now. Scott Sio, Dave Porecki, Folau Fainga’a, Allan Ala’alatoa, Izack Rodda, Rory Arnold, Lachlan Swinton, Michael Hooper, Quade Cooper, Samu Kerevi, Hunter Paisami, Izaia Perese, Andrew Kellaway and Tom Banks, off the top of the head.
But as Dave Rennie said on Sunday: “We’ve got to be better. While we know we’ll get a few guys back, whoever puts the jersey on has to front.”
Limping through each season and hoping everything will click in a World Cup year is what fans have been reduced to. Cheika’s Wallabies finished 2018 with a 30 per cent win rate off four wins from 13 Tests. They were beaten by Wales in the group stages, then smashed by England in the quarter-finals. The year before a World Cup year is the time when belief is bedded in or seeds of doubt take root.
Right now, the Wallabies’ course hangs in the balance. Rennie’s overall win rate is 40 per cent, or 10 wins from 25 Tests. They’re two from five this season, with the toughest of the Rugby Championship yet to come and a five-Test spring tour hot on its heels. Of those sides, you could only pick out Italy as a certain win.
The Wallabies react after losing to Argentina by a record margin.Credit:Getty
In France next year they will likely play Argentina or England in the quarter-finals. Cheika and Jones are both seasoned Test coaches now. Rennie, for all his success in Super Rugby, for his measured, detail-driven approach and popularity among his players, will be the World Cup rookie.
Dave Rennie’s post-match interview with the herald was the first time the Wallabies coach has betrayed frustration with the gap between what he believes his players are capable of and what they’re producing in game.
“We’re better than that, but you can talk about it all you like, you’ve got to put it on the park,” he said.
The search for answers continues, with no guarantee that returning players will make enough of a difference. Add fullback to the five-eighth crisis and there is not a lot to feel hopeful about as we head into back-to-back clashes with South Africa and New Zealand.
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