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Giant Taqele Naiyaravoro's Fijian World Cup dream hanging by a thread
Head coach Gareth Baber admits it is highly unlikely he could throw Taqele Naiyaravoro a potential Rugby World Cup lifeline by naming the powerful Northampton wing in the Fiji squad for the remaining HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series legs in London and Paris.
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John McKee, the Fiji 15’s head coach is formulating his squad for the World Cup in Japan in September and has been impressed by the try scoring form of Naiyaravoro, who won the last of his two Wallaby caps in the 44-40 loss to England in June 2016.
McKee believes it is still possible to get the wing qualified for Fiji and said: ”Taqele is in fine form at Franklin’s Gardens and having played for Australia, he needs to be eligible to play for Fiji. And for this we need him to play for Fiji at the World Sevens Series next stop in London on May 25-26. But the decision will be entirely on Fiji Airways Fijian 7s coach Gareth Baber, he makes the call.”
Naiyaravoro, 6ft 5ins and 19 stones, was dropped from the final Wallabies squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and played for Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh before joining Northampton Saints last year.
However, Baber told RugbyPass from the Fiji Sevens squad’s training base in Suva that to parachute any player into the squad at this late stage would be difficult to justify, particularly with the team just three points behind Series leaders USA heading into the London leg.
The Fiji sevens squad are currently undergoing intensive training in an attempt overtake the USA and win the title just a year out from the defence of their Olympic gold won in Rio in 2016. The top four teams in the Series standing will automatically qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan and Baber is totally focussed on clinching the HSBC title which was snatched away from Fiji by South Africa in the final leg in Paris 12 months ago.
Baber said: “It is a tough one and a player of that talent is someone you want to see representing Fiji in Sevens or 15s. The timing at the moment is very difficult with a World Sevens Series to be won and he is still involved with Northampton, who are trying for a top four Premiership finish and potential play-off semi-finals.
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“To try and piece all that together before you even start to find out the fitness levels to be able to play sevens, is too difficult at this stage to think about putting him into London. In the future we may have an opportunity to bring Naiyaravoro in and blood him to see what he could do in sevens jersey but for me to say now “we will have him in” is doing a disservice to the players I have here or the ones I would potentially bring in who have done the due diligence. The bottom line is that we have to go and win a World Series and I don’t want to change the dynamic of the squad overnight.”
According to World Rugby, under the Olympic Sevens qualification regulations, one of the criteria is that a player would need to play in four Sevens rounds to switch countries.
Paula Dranisinukula has been leading the Fiji Sevens squad which defended their Hong Kong title for a fifth successive time and has been joined in training by key players Kalione Nasoko, Mesulame Kunavula and Waisea Nacuqu who are now available.
Dranisnukula said: “ The USA is a tough opponent and they study us well but they cannot cope with our offload game. They cannot defend our offload game and if we score two tries in the first half then again in the second half they will just give up. If they want to beat us they keep ball away from us and maintain pressure throughout the game. We are working on applying pressure for 14 minutes, it will be a good challenge. The boys can’t wait to go and play the last leg and take on the challenge. It will not be easy we will sweat and bleed for it but the boys are ready.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
A long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates live or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is hear and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
5 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
2 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
5 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
5 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
2 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to commentsThis disgraceful episode must result in management and coach team sackings. A new manager with worse results than previous and the coaching staff need to coached. Awful massacre led by donkeys.
1 Go to commentsInteresting article with one glaring mistake. This sentence: “And between the top four nations right now, Ireland, France, South Africa, and New Zealand…” should read: And between the top four nations right now, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France…”. Get it right wistful thinkers, its not that hard.
24 Go to commentsHow did Penny get the gig anyway?
3 Go to commentsNice write up Nick and I would have agreed a week ago. However as you would know Cale & co got absolutely monstered by the Blues back row of Sotutu, Ioane and Papaliti and not all of these 3 are guaranteed a start in the Black jumper. He may need to put some kgs before stepping up, Spring tour? After the week end Joe will be a bit more restless. Will need to pick a mobile tough pack for Wales and hope England does the right thing and bashes the ABs. I like your last paragraph but I would bring Swinton, Hannigan into the 6 role and Bobby V to 8
28 Go to comments