Latest news with #RugbyChampionship
1News
31 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- 1News
'Perfect week away': All Blacks star and partner announce engagement
All Blacks star Will Jordan and partner Mackenzie Webb have announced their engagement. The pair shared a photo on Instagram, captioned "the perfect week away" with a white heart emoji as Webb showed off the new ring on her finger. Some of Jordan's All Blacks teammates were quick to comment, with Ardie Savea, Richie Mo'Unga and Tupou Vaa'i all expressing congratulations to the happy pair. The Crusaders also offered the pair congratulations. ADVERTISEMENT The couple, who have been together since their teens, had been on holiday in Fiji "off the grid" when they got engaged. The All Blacks recently won their home series against France 3-0. They open their Rugby Championship campaign against Argentina on August 17.
Reuters
6 hours ago
- Sport
- Reuters
Piardi call in Australia-Lions test should be accepted, Erasmus says
July 29 (Reuters) - South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus believes the decision to award the British & Irish Lions a series-winning try in last weekend's 29-26 win, opens new tab over Australia was "touch-and-go" but World Rugby's explanation of the contentious call should be accepted. The Lions won the test with a try from Hugo Keenan in the final seconds but Australia believe a ruling from referee Andrea Piardi at a ruck immediately beforehand was incorrect. Australia coach Joe Schmidt said the call was an error in his post-match press conference, suggesting Jac Morgan's clear-out of Carlo Tizzano was dangerous, and Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh said he would seekg "accountability" from World Rugby over it. But Erasmus, who received a two-month ban from World Rugby for a 62-minute video that was critical of Australian referee Nic Berry after the first Lions test in South Africa in 2021, said he could see both sides of the argument. "I had Australia (winning) by four points in the game, so I lost our internal (coach's competition) on that one," Erasmus told reporters with a smile on Tuesday. "It's such a tough decision. World Rugby has come out to say it was the right decision. It was a very tough call for the referee to make. "If I was Joe, I would be really disappointed, and if I was (Lions coach) Andy (Farrell), I would be really happy. I think it was touch-and-go, so I can understand both sides of what each coach sees. "But World Rugby has ruled on it and that is what everybody has to accept." World Rugby chief Alan Gilpin backed the call from Piardi earlier on Tuesday. "We do share with Joe and the coaching team why the match officials made that decision," he said. "Joe's got a view about what was wrong with that decision and there'll be a debate so that Joe and his players can go into the next test understanding how that game's going to be officiated." South Africa will host Australia in two Rugby Championship tests in Johannesburg and Cape Town next month. Italian Piardi will officiate the defending champion Springboks' final match in the competition against Argentina in London in October.
TimesLIVE
10 hours ago
- Sport
- TimesLIVE
Rassie unsure if Wallabies will arrive here down under
Rassie Erasmus admits he doesn't know whether the Wallabies will be battle ready, flat or punch drunk as a result of the series against the British & Irish Lions before heading to South Africa for a two-Test series in the Rugby Championships against the Springboks. Series' against the B&I Lions are usually a battle of attrition that also take a significant emotional toll on players. Australia are 2-0 down with a Test to play in Sydney on Saturday, a series defeat that could affect their morale and confidence ahead of the southern hemisphere tournament in which the Boks are defending champions. The Wallabies might also take hope from some decent performances among the defeats. 'They might have three injuries in one position and then they might be in trouble. But that's thinking negatively,' the Bok coach said. 'There will be more energy because Joe [Schmidt, the head coach] is stepping down and Les Kiss is taking over and I think Les is touring. We know it will be a really competitive Wallabies team coming to South Africa.' 🗣️ "Maybe some of them play next year, maybe some play in the World Cup year." Rassie Erasmus explains the reason behind selecting the three Junior Boks to join the Springboks for their training camp ahead of the Rugby Championship. #SSRugby | #TRC2025 — SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) July 29, 2025 Having been written off well before the start of the series, the feisty Wallabies have given the much fancied B&I Lions a good run for their money. It hasn't really challenged the outlook of the Springbok coach in the way they should be approaching their opening Tests of the Rugby Championship against Australia in Johannesburg and Cape Town. 'Joe Schmidt is a great coach and we know the players pretty well so it wasn't a surprise for us [they were competitive against the Lions]... and we think the third Test will be close. It won't influence our team selection.' Compared to the rarefied atmosphere the Wallabies are exposed to in their current three-Test series, Erasmus believes the preparation his team got in the four matches they've played thus far should be sufficient heading into the Rugby Championship. 'If your training sessions are proper and your intent is there then you probably have eight weeks of good preparation,' he said about his team's build-up. 'The physicality Italy brought in that first Test and Georgia brought to us, that certainly would not be less to what Australia will bring here. The #Springboks are back in camp 👊 #ForeverGreenForeverGold — Springboks (@Springboks) July 28, 2025 'What Australia definitely have are more rounded players who are used to playing Super Rugby against players from New Zealand and who have played the B&I Lions now. They could lose the series 3-0 and be hard up to come here or they'll win the last one thinking they could have won the second.' Whatever the mindset, Erasmus is not taking anything for granted. He has had to trim his squad to meet short and long-term objectives. They need to beat the Wallabies, fine-tune for their crunch Test against the All Blacks in Auckland and build towards the next Rugby World Cup in 2027. Having a smaller squad provides them the opportunity to give players more personalised attention. 'When Daan [Human, the Boks' scrum coach] does the scrums, it's not like eight guys [front rowers] who have to swap in. We also get more game time into the players. 'The big positive is to get a lot of repetitions in attack, defence, the breakdown, contesting systems, aerial skills. It was a bit tough with the big squad to get all that right. 'The big thing now is to get one-on-one time with guys in specific positions. Obviously we will still swap a little in and out against Australia and see how we can get game time into most of the guys,' said Erasmus, forever the alchemist. The only injuries within the Bok camp are to back-liners Canan Moodie and Cheslin Kolbe, neither, though, serious enough to keep them out of the Ellis Park Test. 'Canan has a bit of hand issue injury that should be ready next Monday. Cheslin has a bit of a knee but he seems OK. In the squad there are no real injury concerns.' Outside the group, however, Erasmus mentioned prop Gerhard Steenekamp who will be out for six more weeks. He has in his more irascible moments delivered some withering retrospectives with regards to the way the game is officiated but Erasmus neatly sidestepped the burning issue Down Under since the climax of the second Test between the Wallabies and the B&I Lions. In the last play of the game a ruck clean polarised opinion but the match officials ruled in favour of the B&I Lions, effectively handing them victory in the Test and crucially, the series. Erasmus said it was a tough one to call, adding he would have been disappointed had he been Schmidt, as he would be satisfied had he been B&I Lions coach Andy Farrell.
IOL News
10 hours ago
- Sport
- IOL News
Why Rassie Erasmus cut Springboks' holiday short ahead of Rugby Championship
SPRINGBOK stars Jesse Kriel and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are among the players coach Rassie Erasmus has called up for Australia Tests. | Ayanda Ndamane/Independent Media Image: Ayanda Ndamane / Independent Media SPRINGBOK coach Rassie Erasmus says cutting short the Springboks break doesn't necessarily relate to their performances against Italy and Georgia, but more to do with working with a streamlined squad ahead of the Rugby Championship. Erasmus and his staff had close to 50 players in camp for the two-Test series against Italy and the one-off match against Georgia. But the squad of players have since been cut to 37 ahead of their opening two Rugby Championship matches against Australia at home next month. Erasmus admitted that this week's training camp was not originally part of their schedule, as the players were supposed to enjoy a two-week break after the win over Georgia at the Mbombela Stadium. But the players were called back a week earlier to prepare for their Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on August 16. The Springboks and Aussies will then travel to Cape Town for their second match a week later on August 23. Many supporters and pundits feel that the Springboks weren't quite at their best against Italy and Georgia, despite putting up 45-point winning margins in the final two Test matches against the visiting teams. But such are the expectations surrounding the Boks and standard they have set over the last few years as the best team on the planet, that supporters demand perfection in almost every Test. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ However, Erasmus says calling the players back a week earlier was more about working closely with individuals, which is something that they struggled to do with the amount of players who were in camp during the incoming tours. 'These two weeks of camp will give us time to align as coaches, as well as on the conditioning aspects for the players and to take stock from a medical perspective, so it's important in assisting us to get to where we want to be against three good countries in the series,' Erasmus said. 'If you just look at the scoreboard, almost 200 points for us and 40 against us, you can probably say that's not too bad,' Erasmus added, referring to the matches against Italy and Georgia. 'We didn't cut the squad to drop guys, because this is only for the Australian Tests, but we can have a lot more one-on-one time with players. 'We always knew, having such a big squad in the beginning, it will be tough. But the positive will be, if you do get injuries during the Rugby Championships or on the End-of-Year Tour, you have a player who is comfortable and will be able to play.' 'But you do lose a bit of attention individually.' Erasmus says he is not surprised by Australia's performance in the second Test against the British and Irish Lions. The Wallabies suffered a heartbreaking late defeat in the second Test in Melbourne to concede the series But they really showed up in the physical stakes, with returning lock Will Skelton and No 8 Rob Valetini making a big impact in the first half against the touring team. 'We always knew that our first few matches would not be as tough as the Rugby Championship, even though the opposition (Italy and Georgia) was competitive and physical, but we are now going up against teams with solid game plans and a different intensity,' Erasmus said. 'Australia would have also come off a British and Irish Lions series by playing high-intensity matches by the time we face them. So it will be a challenging tournament.' On the injury front, Erasmus confirmed that they don't have any new injury concerns. Utility back Canan Moody was struggling with a hand injury, but is back at training, while star wing Cheslin Kolbe is expected to be up and running from a knee injury on Monday.
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Sport
- The Guardian
Australia tears its hair out as it tries to come to terms with Lions series defeat
The Wallabies were brave in Melbourne but the true test of their courage comes now. Despite snatching defeat from the jaws of victory yet again, they must try and put aside the disappointment of the last-gasp 29-26 defeat at the MCG and debate over that contentious 80th minute non-penalty, and win the final Test to deny the Lions a 3-0 sweep. The Wallabies can't save the series but they can save face in Sydney on Saturday – and claw back a little of the goodwill they squandered in letting the Lions off the hook with 90,307 fans in the stands and millions more watching on screens at home. It won't be easy. All week Australians have torn themselves apart wrestling with one of the crueller defeats in the Wallabies' woebegone recent history. Moods have swung between grieving and aggrieved, despair and defiance. On one hand the wider public are mourning a gut-wrenching defeat, a once-every-12-years opportunity lost amid an embarrassing, yet painfully familiar, inability to ruthlessly close out a game they were bossing with a 23-5 lead. On the other hand they are still aggrieved that Australia's early dominance over the Lions was denied at the death by a 50-50 decision. Carlo Tizzano's theatrics – reeling from the contact with operatic passion, hands clutching the back of his head in mock-agony – have also polarised. Was this cowardly 'diving' or canny gamesmanship to catch the camera's eye? Alas, Italian referee Andrea Piardi sang only from the songsheet of officialdom. He ignored Tizzano's squatter's rights to the ball in the ruck to reward Jac Morgan's lethal clean-out a split-second later. In the chaos, the Wallabies lost possession. The Lions cleared to the left and found space for Hugo Keenan to scramble over the line. Game over. Series won – and lost. For Wallabies fans who have endured a torrid two decades of decline, it was another cruel blow. But not an undeserving one. Australia had tempted the fates when young flyhalf Tom Lynagh coughed up a kick under no pressure to spark two Lions tries that saw Australia's 18-point ascendency vanish into a slender six-point buffer at the break. Yes, Piardi's decision had denied Australia a penalty that would've secured victory and squared the series one-all. But sport is built on drama, not justice. Rugby clings to respect for the referee as sacrosanct. Both captains Harry Wilson and Maro Itoje addressed Piardi as 'sir' throughout (even though the honorary title often gets lost in a torrent of profanity afterwards). For all its wine-producing and guzzling, sour grapes are not Australia's go. This, after all, is the land of 'cop it sweet'. The real cost for the Wallabies was bottling a golden chance to win back floating fans with a famous victory at the nation's most storied colosseum. With a World Cup to host in 2027, Australian rugby badly needed a boilover victory against an all-star touring side to give Joe Schmidt's ragged band of players a jolt of confidence before another arduous Rugby Championship against the All Blacks, South Africa and Argentina starting on 17 August. Instead, the opportunity for a week of fever pitch anticipation for a decider before more than 80,000 fans at the former Olympic stadium has been lost. Worse, the largely self-inflicted calamity in Melbourne has reopened old wounds of other near-victories cruelly vaporised – Kurtley Beale slipping in the mud to gift the 2013 Lions their first series win in 16 years, Bernard Foley penalised for time wasting when the Wallabies had the All Blacks on the rack in 2022. Sign up to The Breakdown The latest rugby union news and analysis, plus all the week's action reviewed after newsletter promotion Are the Wallabies cursed? Former Socceroo Johnny Warren claimed an unpaid debt led a Mozambique witchdoctor to put a hex on Australian soccer in 1970 and led to a series of bizarre losses and a 32-year World Cup exile. Melbourne Demons fans swore the sacking of legendary coach Norm Smith in 1965 sparked the club's premiership drought until 2021. Footballers are superstitious creatures. In theatre circles it's unlucky to say 'Macbeth' before a performance and apparently these Wallabies won't utter the name 'Eddie Jones' aloud for fear of ghosting by their old coach. But superstition is borne from fear. The Wallabies must banish any demons from Melbourne and set their jaws for a last stand with these hungry Lions, not for their sake as much as ours. US basketball coach Dick Motta used to tell his troops 'you cannot find victory unless you first understand defeat … but show me a good loser in pro sport and I'll show you an idiot.' Australian fans are sick of lionising brave defeats and Schmidt can't shrug off the loss in Melbourne if he's to win Sydney. As the NRL and AFL close in, winning a 'dead rubber' in front of a full house keeps Wallabies hope alive.
