Kiss, Kefu to coach in Lions tour invitational matches
Incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss will get an early taste of international rugby when he oversees the AUNZ Invitational XV against the British and Irish Lions in Adelaide.
Queensland Reds mentor Kiss will team up with former All Blacks coach Ian Foster, who was already announced as an assistant for the July fixture, the first time since 1989 that Australia and New Zealand have combined on the field.
That match was won 19-15 by the touring Lions, however only two of the seven Kiwi players originally named in the squad decided to play.
There are hopes that Japan-based stars like Michael Hooper, Aaron Smith and Richie Mo'unga could be attracted to participate this time around.
Kiss, who will replace current Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt next year, was looking forward to guiding the trans-Tasman selection, with the match a week before the first Test in Brisbane on July 19.
"It's a privilege to be able to lead the coaching group for the combined AUNZ Invitational XV," he said in a statement.
"I'm looking forward to working with a coach like Ian, who has wide-ranging experience at the highest level of the game."
Rugby Australia also announced that former Wallabies No.8 Toutai Kefu would coach the First Nations and Pasifika XV, who will play the Lions at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on July 22.
Currently coaching in Japan, Kefu was part of the victorious Wallabies squad in the 2001 Lions series and was previously head coach of Tonga for seven years."First Nations and Pasifika people contribute massively to the game all around the world and the significance of this game in celebrating those ongoing contributions can't be overstated, especially against a team with the history of the British and Irish Lions," Kefu said in the statement."I'm looking forward to getting together as a group in July and representing our people with a strong performance."
Incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss will get an early taste of international rugby when he oversees the AUNZ Invitational XV against the British and Irish Lions in Adelaide.
Queensland Reds mentor Kiss will team up with former All Blacks coach Ian Foster, who was already announced as an assistant for the July fixture, the first time since 1989 that Australia and New Zealand have combined on the field.
That match was won 19-15 by the touring Lions, however only two of the seven Kiwi players originally named in the squad decided to play.
There are hopes that Japan-based stars like Michael Hooper, Aaron Smith and Richie Mo'unga could be attracted to participate this time around.
Kiss, who will replace current Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt next year, was looking forward to guiding the trans-Tasman selection, with the match a week before the first Test in Brisbane on July 19.
"It's a privilege to be able to lead the coaching group for the combined AUNZ Invitational XV," he said in a statement.
"I'm looking forward to working with a coach like Ian, who has wide-ranging experience at the highest level of the game."
Rugby Australia also announced that former Wallabies No.8 Toutai Kefu would coach the First Nations and Pasifika XV, who will play the Lions at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on July 22.
Currently coaching in Japan, Kefu was part of the victorious Wallabies squad in the 2001 Lions series and was previously head coach of Tonga for seven years."First Nations and Pasifika people contribute massively to the game all around the world and the significance of this game in celebrating those ongoing contributions can't be overstated, especially against a team with the history of the British and Irish Lions," Kefu said in the statement."I'm looking forward to getting together as a group in July and representing our people with a strong performance."
Incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss will get an early taste of international rugby when he oversees the AUNZ Invitational XV against the British and Irish Lions in Adelaide.
Queensland Reds mentor Kiss will team up with former All Blacks coach Ian Foster, who was already announced as an assistant for the July fixture, the first time since 1989 that Australia and New Zealand have combined on the field.
That match was won 19-15 by the touring Lions, however only two of the seven Kiwi players originally named in the squad decided to play.
There are hopes that Japan-based stars like Michael Hooper, Aaron Smith and Richie Mo'unga could be attracted to participate this time around.
Kiss, who will replace current Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt next year, was looking forward to guiding the trans-Tasman selection, with the match a week before the first Test in Brisbane on July 19.
"It's a privilege to be able to lead the coaching group for the combined AUNZ Invitational XV," he said in a statement.
"I'm looking forward to working with a coach like Ian, who has wide-ranging experience at the highest level of the game."
Rugby Australia also announced that former Wallabies No.8 Toutai Kefu would coach the First Nations and Pasifika XV, who will play the Lions at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium on July 22.
Currently coaching in Japan, Kefu was part of the victorious Wallabies squad in the 2001 Lions series and was previously head coach of Tonga for seven years."First Nations and Pasifika people contribute massively to the game all around the world and the significance of this game in celebrating those ongoing contributions can't be overstated, especially against a team with the history of the British and Irish Lions," Kefu said in the statement."I'm looking forward to getting together as a group in July and representing our people with a strong performance."
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The new club would have been called North Fitzroy Kangaroos, but opposition teams feared they would become a 'super club'. Loading The Roos refused to budge from their stance of not accepting less when clubs met again that year at Punt Road – but by then, the league was negotiating for Fitzroy to instead merge with Brisbane Bears. In de Rauch's words, North Melbourne's rivals 'sabotaged' the concept. The other 14 clubs voted emphatically against the North-Fitzroy merger. 'Brisbane and Sydney were the two teams the AFL needed to work for the expansion of the competition, and I had no issue with that,' Miller said. 'But you can't offer something, then renege on it and blame us, so we were not going to change. The AFL gave the merger to Brisbane, and we won the premiership that year. 'We beat Geelong the next day by 60 points, and then we beat the two AFL sides – Brisbane and Sydney – in the preliminary final and grand final. We had to start looking for alternatives [to solve our financial issues], which was selling games interstate.' The Kangaroos won another premiership, which remains their most recent (at least in the men's competition), in 1999. The celebrity Shinboners There is no higher-profile North Melbourne supporter than former Australian cricket captain Ricky Ponting, who was the club's No.1 ticketholder at the height of his legendary career. Loading Ponting was often on international tours throughout football seasons, and watching games was not as accessible then as it is now – but that did not stop him. He would organise to receive match videos before graduating, as technology improved, to friends ringing him then placing their phone against a radio to hear the commentary. That is how Ponting followed the Roos' 1999 grand final triumph. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Ponting has been overseas with coaching and other commitments for most of every football season, but he watches every game on the AFL website. Ponting went into business with North Melbourne premiership stars Glenn Archer and Anthony Stevens, while Ponting Wines became the Kangaroos' official wine partner last year. 'During my playing years, I was very lucky to be in and around our great sides of the '90s. Many of the players became close friends, and we have stayed in regular contact,' Ponting told this masthead. 'I was like a kid in a lolly shop back then.' Ponting has spoken to several iterations of North Melbourne playing groups, and worked with the club on charitable initiatives via the Ponting Foundation, including a Twenty20 game between the Kangaroos and Hawthorn in Launceston in 2017. They raised more than $300,000 for childhood cancer support in Tasmania that day, which is also remembered for a Peter Siddle bouncer that hit Alastair Clarkson on the helmet. Cricket ties run deep at North. Siddle is another passionate supporter, along with the Marsh brothers – Mitch and Shaun – who caught up with the players and coaches during their current trip to Western Australia. The Kangaroos twice asked Ponting to join the club's board, but he reluctantly said no because of his overseas commitments. They also offered him a semi-executive football department role after he retired as a player and relocated from Sydney to Melbourne, but the timing was not right, a 'flattered' Ponting said. North Melbourne's other celebrity supporters include actors Sigrid Thornton and Lisa McCune, singer Tim Rogers, leading horse trainer Lee Freedman, comedians Greg Fleet and Trevor Marmalade, Melbourne Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen, tennis player Wayne Arthurs and basketballer Chris Goulding. Loading The club's ex-media boss, Heath O'Loughlin, attempted in 2009 to confirm rumours that supermodel Elle Macpherson was a North Melbourne supporter. 'I managed to hunt down Elle's email address through a friend at a talent agency who knew her brother,' O'Loughlin said, laughing. 'I almost fainted when she wrote back. It was something like, 'Oh, bless – thank you for checking. Unfortunately, I am not [a Kangaroos fan]. It's something that's always followed me around, but thank you for checking'.'
