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'Can he play sevens with the injury toll he has had?' - Bristol question Piutau's Olympic chances

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Harry Trump/Getty Images)

Bristol have claimed they are in the dark regarding reports that their former All Blacks player Charles Piutau is being lined up to represent Tonga at the final Olympics 7s qualification tournament in Monaco in a few months’ time. Piutau earned the last of his 15 All Blacks caps in 2015 and has since concentrated on club rugby in the northern hemisphere, playing for Wasps, Ulster and now Bristol where he has been since 2018 along with his older brother Siale who skippered Tonga at the last World Cup in 2019. 

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A former Tonga U20s pick, reports claim that Charles Piutau can potentially take advantage of a clash in regulations governing World Rugby and the International Olympic Committee. The IOC eligibility criteria allows players to represent a second nation provided they have a passport for that country and have completed a three-year international stand down.

Once the break is completed, players must partake in an Olympic event to make themselves eligible for their new nation at all levels – meaning an appearance by Piutau at the Olympic qualifier would make him eligible to play for Tonga at Test level.  

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RugbyPass went behind the scenes with Siale Piutau’s Tonga in the run-up to World Cup 2019

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RugbyPass went behind the scenes with Siale Piutau’s Tonga in the run-up to World Cup 2019

The repechage tournament for the Tokyo Olympics is scheduled for Monaco on the weekend of June 19/20, a date that would clash with the semi-finals stages of the Gallagher Premiership, a tournament that Bristol currently lead by six points at the halfway stage.  

Bristol boss Pat Lam claimed that potential clash was currently irrelevant to him, saying at his weekly media conference: “At the moment it is a non-issue because the first I heard of it was in the media.”

However, he didn’t 100 per cent rule out the possibility of Piutau representing Tonga. “It was the first I heard in the media about it, the rule challenge. I haven’t talked to Charles at all about it but I know it has been available, an option for others in that sense. 

“But the main thing would be around sevens is a completely different game from XVs and it is well documented that Charles has had a few niggles as he has gone through. It’s not only if Charles is available but can he play sevens with the injury toll that he has had?”

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Asked in a RugbyPass interview in December 2019 about his ambitions to play for Tonga, Piutau said: “I have been asked this question many times and if the opportunity arises I would be more than happy to have a crack with Tonga and be able to help in whatever way that I can for the country in terms of the rugby team. Yeah, definitely.”

It’s an ambition that his brother Siale endorsed when also speaking to RugbyPass recently. “I do hope Charles gets to play,” he said. “He has always had a desire to get back and it will be great for the game. To see the likes of Charles and a lot of other players who could play would not only bring a buzz around our Pacific Island teams but could inspire some young kid around the world. I’ve seen it happen with the Tonga rugby league (where dual capped nationality was introduced). I have no doubts that the same impact would happen with rugby union.” 

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Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 10 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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