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Five Junior Wallabies stars join former All Blacks duo at Reds
The Queensland Reds have secured the services of five Junior Wallabies stars, as they continue to build their squad under new head coach Les Kiss.
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After announcing the signing of two All Blacks props, another five Junior Wallabies have committed to the Reds.
Former New Zealand props Alex Hodgman and Jeff Toomaga-Allen will ply their trade in Brisbane for the next two years, and they’ll be joined by some promising young talent at the club.
Along with Australian U20 representative Massimo De Lutiis, who inked a deal with the Reds earlier this week, another five up-and-coming talents have signed on at Ballymore.
Junior Wallabies Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Max Craig, Tim Ryan, John Bryant and Trevor King have committed their futures to Queensland Rugby.
Craig, Ryan, Bryant and King are set to join the Reds in 2024, while Brisbane Boys’ College Old Boy McLaughlin-Phillips will join the full-time squad.
“We’re extremely pleased to have signed Harry, Max, Tim, John and Trevor,” Reds coach Les Kiss said in a statement.
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“All five have impressed us at club and representative level and we believe they have bright futures in the Queensland jersey.
“We’re looking forward to seeing them develop on and off the field as part of our squad at Ballymore.”
McLaughlin-Phillips had a Colts Rugby season to remember with Brisbane club Souths last year. The 19-year-old was impressive, to say the least, and was named the Queensland U20s Player of the Year.
The flyhalf also represented the Magpies in Queensland Premier Rugby this year, before playing both first-five and fullback for the Junior Wallabies in South Africa.
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But before heading overseas with the team, McLaughlin-Phillips starred in the Junior Wallabies’ 92-17 demolition of the Australian Barbarians in Sydney.
“He’s a good talent,” coach Nathan Grey told Rugby.com.au. “It’s great to have that flexibility in the backline.”
It’s fair to say that McLaughlin-Phillips, who could potentially play in a backline alongside the likes of James O’Connor, Jordan Petaia and Suliasi Vunivalu, is a player to watch.
Max Craig is another player with a wealth of potential. The hooker finished equal second for try scoring in Queensland Premier Rugby – scoring 12 tries in just eight games.
But what makes that stat even more impressive is that Craig missed a decent chunk of the campaign due to his Junior Wallabies commitments.
Fellow Junior Wallaby Tim Ryan is a winger with pace to burn. The outside back started four matches for the Australian side in South Africa, and crossed for two tries.
During his first full season in Queensland Premier Rugby with Brothers, Ryan has scored 10 tries in as many matches. For Reds fans, that kind of strike rate is nothing short of exciting.
The final two Reds-bound Junior Wallabies are loose forward John Bryant and prop Trevor King.
Bryant trained with the Reds during pre-season earlier this year, and went on to play in four of the Junior Wallabies’ five matches in South Africa.
As for King, the front rower was picked for the Junior Wallabies in his first year out of school – he’s only 18 years old.
King played for Downlands College in Toowoomba during his high school days, and is now representing Souths. The prop made his Queensland Premier Rugby debut for the Magpies at just 17 years of age.
Comments on RugbyPass
The first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
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