![]() With innovation and change we create paradigms and rugby is no different. The salient point is, in 2011 in the world rugby player rates the gent was in the high 20’s, today he struggles to stay in the top 100. Therefore, he will not be considered unless those changes are forthcoming, playing in France will not deliver that incentive and at 27, time may not be his friend. In all the games I watched, the key contributors provided added abilities within their skill set. Apart from a slight improvement in his defensive game he brings nothing new to the table. Cheika is an astute coach and is more in tune with the Foley package, than QC’s stutter step and game management. The same delusion applies to some key players, it’s not skill level or fitness but adjustment and acknowledging the attributes they displayed five years age no-longer cut it. ![]() Don’t they understand that major sports continue to evolve and as witnessed in the WC just completed, that some nations struggled with that transformation. Taylorman, after another cursory review I note some folk continue to bang the drum and appear to have this uncanny ability to hallucinate about rugby matches almost played in another age. He showed Montpellier’s Australian captain Ben Mowen a yellow for a ruck infringement early on in Saturday’s game. ![]() In an ironic twist, even the referee was a foreigner: Argentinian Juan Silvestre officiated the game in English. In this case it involves Mourad Boudjellal, who has bankrolled the star-studded Toulon team through the millions made from his comic book empire, and Mohed Altrad, who made his millions in scaffolding and cement after a tough early life that saw him start out as a bedouin in the Syrian desert. There were a further eight foreigners on both benches in a sharp realisation of the globalisation of the Top 14, where clubs are funded by multi-millionaire owners. Toulon might have been missing the likes of Bryan Habana, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Ma’a Nonu, Leigh Halfpenny, Duane Vermuelen, Paul O’Connell, Frederic Michalak and James O’Connor, but they could still afford to field a star-studded team packed with experienced internationals.īernard Laporte named nine foreigners in his starting Toulon line-up – Montpellier coach Jake White plumping for a staggering 11. His genius and fallibility were both on show in the first-half: a no-look grubber setting up the second of Lachie Turner’s tries, but a forced one-handed sling pass leading to Montpellier’s intercept try through Julien Malzieu. “He attacks a lot and doesn’t hesitate to force the pass.”Ĭooper was little used by the Wallabies in the World Cup, but showed few signs of ring rustiness in his first run-out for the three-time European champions. “You can see with Quade that after just two training sessions, he’s very much at ease,” Toulon centre Maxime Mermoz said. Australian five-eighth Quade Cooper enjoyed the ideal introduction to the Top 14 as he steered Toulon to a 52-8 thrashing of Montpellier on Saturday.Ĭooper flourished behind a dominant pack, Fijian winger Josua Tuisova scoring a second-half hat-trick as the home side ran in eight tries to one for a well-deserved bonus point.
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