Tag: Rugby

Johnny Sexton has been named as the new Leinster captain ahead of the upcoming season, taking over from the recently retired Isa Nacewa.

Sexton, who has won 76 Ireland caps and has represented the British & Irish Lions on 14 occasions, made his Leinster debut in January 2006 and has added a further 147 caps since then, becoming the all-time leading Leinster points scorer in the process with 1,344 to date.

In his time with Leinster he has won four Heineken Champions Cup trophies, a Challenge Cup trophy and three Celtic League/PRO14 trophies.

Meanwhile, Rhys Ruddock, 27, has been named vice-captain. Ruddock has won 19 Ireland caps. He made his Leinster debut in December 2009 and has won 142 caps in total for Leinster, scoring seven tries. He has won a Challenge Cup, three PRO12/14 titles and added a Heineken Champions Cup medal last season.

Commenting on the appointment of both Sexton and Ruddock, head coach Leo Cullen said:

“Johnny is a player and person who is always striving to improve and get better and he has driven incredibly high standards during his time at Leinster, where he has become one of the most decorated players in the game.

“He has already carried out the role of captain of the team on a number of occasions and we are very fortunate to be able to announce Johnny as club captain for the 2018/19 season as he is a player that greatly deserves this honour.

“He is hugely excited by the challenge of leading his teammates over the course of the season as we look to maximise the team’s potential.

“Likewise Rhys, we have seen him grow into an outstanding leader at Leinster and indeed he has captained Ireland on tour to Japan and again last season against Fiji and I think that this appointment today is further evidence of that growth.

“You couldn’t get two players that better represent the values and behaviours that we want to be judged on than Johnny and Rhys and I look forward to working even closer with them over the coming months.”

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Leicester Tigers have added Fiji international prop Campese Ma’afu and Tongan international prop David Feao to the senior squad ahead of the new Premiership season.

Experienced front-rower Ma’afu arrives as an injury dispensation signing with England international Ellis Genge sidelined by a knee injury.

The 33-year-old Ma’afu includes Cardiff Blues, Nottingham and Northampton Saints among his former clubs.

Tigers head coach Matt O’Connor said: “We’re obviously disappointed to have Ellis sidelined for the start of the new season after suffering a knee injury on the England tour in the summer and we look forward to seeing him back to full fitness in due course, but Campese is a very experienced prop with good knowledge of Premiership and European rugby.

“He comes into a competitive group of front-rowers at the club and we look forward to seeing him work with coaches Mark Bakewell and Boris Stankovich as we build up to the new campaign.”

Ma’afu follows Tonga international prop Feao in joining the Tigers squad.

The 27-year-old Feao played for Tonga in their three summer Tests against Georgia, Fiji and Samoa, and has previous experience in European rugby after spells with French clubs La Rochelle and Narbonne.

Feao, who was born in Brisbane and played his club rugby with Souths, Brisbane City and NSW Country Eagles in Australia before moving to France, weighs in at around 20 stones and joins his new club colleagues in the build-up to the new season now that the paperwork on his move has been completed.

The former Australia Schoolboys cap went to the Junior World Championships with Tonga Under-20s in 2010 and played for Tonga ‘A’ in the Pacific Nations Cup before stepping up to Test status.

He initially joined La Rochelle on a short-term contract at the end of the 2015/16 season but then stayed for an extra season before moving to Narbonne.

O’Connor added: “David comes in with some good experience in Europe and we think he can continue to make good progress here. he is a big, powerful man and we look forward to getting him to work in the build-up to the new season.”

Former Tigers props Logovi’i Mulipola (Newcastle Falcons), Michele Rizzo (Petrarca) and Ben Betts (Ealing Trailfinders) have joined new clubs since the end of last season, while Kyle Traynor and Chris Baumann have also left Welford Road at the end of their contracts.

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Richie Mo’unga was named man of the match in the Super Rugby final and this demonstrates why after instigating David Havili’s crucial score.

The Crusaders pivot has been in exceptional form throughout 2018 and is putting pressure on Beauden Barrett for the starting All Blacks jersey in the Rugby Championship.

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Wales assistant coach (defence) Shaun Edwards will leave the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) post the 2019 Rugby World Cup, at the conclusion of his contract, to take over as head coach of rugby league giants Wigan Warriors.

Edwards, who joined the WRU in 2008, has been part of one of Wales’ most successful coaching teams over the last decade securing two Grand Slams and a Six Nations title in that time.

He will continue in his role with the national squad through to the conclusion of the Rugby World Cup in Japan after which he will return to Rugby League and to Wigan Warriors.

WRU chairman Gareth Davies said: “We would like to congratulate Shaun on his appointment at Wigan Warriors.

“He is a rugby league legend and particularly so at Wigan and we know he will be welcomed back there with open arms.

“Shaun has and continues to be a great servant to Welsh Rugby. He has been part of a hugely successful coaching team over the past ten years and we would like to thank him for all of his efforts.

“From a Wales perspective entering a crucial Rugby World Cup year it is great that Shaun has committed to seeing out his contract with the WRU and to continue to help lead Wales into the RWC.

“He will take up the role at Wigan post Japan 2019 and I am sure I speak on behalf of the whole game in Wales when I say I wish him all the best for his future.”

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England wing Jonny May has targeted continued improvements in his game after producing some of the best rugby of his career over the summer.

The Leicester Tigers wideman scored in all three Tests against South Africa in June, taking his streak to crossing in the last five times he has represented his county.

The 28-year-old though still believes he can add to his game that has so far returned 17 tries in 37 caps.

“I want to get smarter and I want to get faster and that is the product of years of working,” he told England Rugby.

“You spend your whole career working and every week looking at bits about how you can get better here or there.

“The end goal, and end product, is hopefully putting it out there at the weekend and playing some good rugby.

“I feel like over time I’ve gradually been getting better and I was playing my best rugby I think I’ve ever played out in South Africa.”

May’s preparations for the new season have included a two-week stint at the Michael Johnson Performance centre in Texas, where he interacted with American sprinter English Gardner and some NFL players.

“I like the training there, it’s perfect for what I want to do – I had a good couple of weeks there and I came back feeling good,” he added.

“The primary focus is on speed training, lots of agility, plyometrics, acceleration, top end speed; America don’t mess around with sports.”

England are next in action in November when they take on South Africa in the Quilter Internationals before facing New Zealand, Japan and Australia.

It is part of a big season for England which culminates in the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, and May hopes the squad can use the tournament as motivation throughout the season.

“It’s exciting isn’t it being a World Cup year?”

“Let’s make sure it brings the best out of us, it is not something to burden us or stress us out it is something to get excited about.”

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Dan Carter believes Beauden Barrett is still the best in the fly-half position for the All Blacks, despite stiff competition from Richie Mo’unga.

Mo’unga has been in sparkling form, guiding the Crusaders to a ninth Super Rugby title, prompting many to suggest it was time he was given a shot in the coveted All Black number ten jersey.

While Carter paid tribute to Mo’unga’s ‘fantastic season’, the three-time World Player of the Year believes Barrett’s experience and leadership still give him the the edge.

“It’s obviously hotly debated at the moment and credit to Richie Mo’unga for putting his hand up over a fantastic season,” Carter told the New Zealand Herald.

“It’s hard to go past what Beauden’s achieved over the last couple of years. A lot of the All Blacks’ success has come because of his performances. He’s a leader of the team now.”

Barrett is the current holder of back-to-back World Rugby Player of the Year crowns. But it is Mo’unga who has stolen the limelight in Super Rugby this season, with Barrett’s form slightly underwhelming in contrast.

“I’ve been in that position with young guys nipping at your heels. It makes you work harder and appreciate your position in the team more,” Carter added.

“It’s great there’s competition. Damian’s not a bad talent as well. It’s great the All Blacks have such depth.”

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All Blacks hooker Dane Coles admits he almost hung up his boots but has persevered through his injury troubles because of his love for the game.

Coles was named in Steve Hansen’s squad for the Rugby Championship on Monday despite only being expected to return in the latter stages of the tournament as he continues his recovery from a ruptured ACL suffered against France last November.

This, after, having played only 11 games in 2017 due to concussion problems. All this led to the 31-year-old questioning whether it was really worth carrying on, but he says his love for the game and his wife and two children have given him the strength to battle on.

“I’ve had a pretty frustrating couple of years,” the Hurricanes hooker told Radio Sport on Wednesday.

“You have times where you’re like, ‘Is this really worth it?’ or ‘Is this going to come right?’”

“I think the drive, especially for me of getting back out there playing for the All Blacks or playing for the Hurricanes, has been a massive motivation,” he added. “Just playing rugby again. I love the game.

“I didn’t want the injury to determine my outcome I wanted, leaving on my own terms I suppose.

“You have really good weeks and you go ‘I’m making good progress’, then I had the calf stuff and you just find yourself in this routine of ‘I’m not really getting anywhere’ because I was so close, but then again I was so far.

“You’ve just got to find a way to keep motivated. I’m lucky cause I’ve got kids and if I’ve been frustrated at training I can go home and decompress and be a dad.

“Just getting away from the rugby side of things and just being normal really helps, so when I come to training I’m 100 per cent focused on doing my running or my weights.

“You find ways to get yourself back on track and to be patient. I don’t want to rush these things because if I rush that might be me done, or another nine months on the sideline.”

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Former Ireland and British & Irish Lions fly-half Ronan O’Gara said his experience as an assistant coach with the Super Rugby-winning Crusaders has ‘entirely altered’ his thought processes.

O’Gara said a comment made before the Crusaders’ second game against the Hurricanes by coach Scott Robertson had been significant in his change of approach.

“We were ravaged by injuries, facing our biggest New Zealand rivals with a team of largely untried talents,” he told the Irish Examiner.

“Losing to them would have provided the ‘Canes with a massive fillip for the last third of the campaign, irrespective of what we had on the field.”

Robertson was one of the most upbeat men he had worked with.

“He blew me away that week when I ventured that if the Hurricanes were going to beat us, it was then,” said O’Gara.

“‘Razor’ (Robertson’s nickname) fixed me with a death stare. ‘I don’t see it like that. Anybody who has come into my team has performed and taken their chance. I can’t wait to see these young fellas tomorrow’,” he said.

The next evening the Crusaders duly beat the Hurricanes.

“Razor showers you in his positivity,” added O’Gara.

“I would always have been looking to see what could go wrong in a game; he looks to see what will go right. Scott’s glass is never less than half-full. Mine’s now the same, largely because of him.”

The Crusaders’ campaign had been the most intensely focused he had been involved in.

“It’s almost weird being a sidecar passenger on your own development, knowing it’s happening but being too focused to stop and admire it,” he said.

“We practise clinical and ruthless. The coaching and teaching element of the job is fundamental but the icing on the top is the development of the individual player, their self-development. The trick for the coaching staff is knowing when to be part of that and knowing when to get out of the way. Helping the players help each other too. That’s been the really fascinating part to observe.

“Nobody here has reinvented the wheel, and I’m certainly not the smartest kid in the class all of a sudden. Each and every experience is a development opportunity. It just seems that coaching in New Zealand is a master’s course in itself.”

O’Gara said during his experience with Racing 92 in Paris the language barrier had been an issue in player uptake as everything happened slower.

But in Christchurch the players’ game intelligence was off the charts, he said, and the uptake was so quick by comparison.

Leadership was an important area, and it was carefully planned with programmes in place to ensure a next tier of leaders was being catered for.

“In the midst of all this, you are continually reinforcing the benefits of what knowledge does for a coaching ticket, for a playing group, for team ambition, and for making the difference in the championship moments and games,” he explained.

“It makes for an interesting (and at times sobering) retrospective on things, on moments, and on careers. I look back now at key games, key battles we hoped to win. It was all a bit random at times,” he said of his playing career.

“These guys expect to win, and not because they are New Zealanders.”

The experience with the Crusaders had given him more confidence about delivering his message in every different facet of the game.

“There’s nothing special, there’s no mystery to these Crusader winners, but living with them clarifies in its purest terms the fundamentals of that oft-misused and misunderstood value – culture – and how you back it up. How you put into practice what culture is, and what trying to get better every day looks like,” he said.

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Newcastle Falcons have completed the signing of Portuguese outside centre Pedro Bettencourt from French club Carcassonne ahead of the new season.

A Portugese international at both 7s and 15s, the 23-year-old spent two seasons in the academy of French giants Clermont and has been a regular starter for Carcassonne in France’s Pro D2 for the past two years.

Standing at 6 foot 1 and weighing 94kg, Bettencourt is renowned for his hard-hitting defence, piercing attacking runs and offloading game, director of rugby Dean Richards welcoming him on board as his eighth senior signing of the summer.

“Pedro was initially recommended to us by a well-respected contact of ours on the continent, and on the strength of that endorsement we decided to take a much closer look at him over a period of time,” said the Falcons boss.

“He is a player who ticks all the boxes in terms of what we want from an outside centre, he speaks good English and we think he can make a mark here. He is over here already training with the boys, and we look forward to seeing the impact he can make.”

Bettencourt’s arrival comes on the back of the previously-announced signings of George McGuigan (Leicester Tigers), Logovi’i Mulipola (Leicester Tigers), Guy Graham (Hawick), Tom Arscott (Rouen), Connor Collett (North Harbour), Nemani Nagusa (Aurillac) and Johnny Williams (London Irish), as well as senior academy promotions for England Under-18s stars Cameron Nordli-Kelemeti, Morgan Passman, Will Montgomery, Tom Marshall, Josh Hodge and Rob Farrar.

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Former Wales international Gavin Henson is looking to continue his playing career beyond the current campaign with the Newport-based Dragons.

The utility back, who has garnered 33 caps for his country, will be 37 by the end of his current deal at the Welsh region which runs out in June 2019.

Henson was a regular in the first part of last season but was dropped following a Boxing Day defeat to Cardiff Blues. He started once more before a hamstring injury ruled him out of the rest of the campaign.

“For the last however many years I have always treated it as my last but hope that is not the case,” he told WalesOnline. “I would love to go one more year professionally.

“I’m hoping to get another contract but there’s a lot to do yet. That’s a big drive for me to get that next year. I’m always looking for perfection, even at my age. I’m still dreaming of that perfect game, that’s what keeps my drive in training. As soon as I lose that I will finish.”

Despite Henson’s experience and quality, the 36-year-old is initially expecting to be down the pecking order when their PRO14 season starts in September.

He added: “I think I have got to take a little bit of a back-seat to start, to see if those boys take their chance. I’m covering 10, 12 and 15, wherever they need me, but hopefully I can force my way in the team. When I get my chance I have got to take it and put pressure on the other boys.

“Obviously, the management is under pressure because of how we finished last year so we need wins. This year is going to be much more serious. There’s going to be no messing around; (head coach) Bernard (Jackman) is probably going to pick his strongest team every week.

“That’s what we want as players and hopefully I will get in that. At the moment, with the way pre-season is, my goal is to try and get that starting spot and be first choice, which is going to be tough. But it’s a nice challenge for me.”

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