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How surprise Cowan exit opened Irish door for a 20-year-old rookie

By Liam Heagney
(Photo by Getty Images)

Declan Kidney has explained that the unexpected exit of the seasoned Blair Cowan paved the way for London Irish to this week recruit Juan Martin Gonzalez Samso, the rookie 20-year-old back-rower who forced his way into the Argentina team in the recent Rugby Championship campaign. It was August 13 when the Premiership club confirmed that they had sanctioned Cowan’s surprise request to end his contract early so that he could pursue a new challenge in Japan.

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Cowan, the New Zealand-born ex-Scotland international, had been with Irish since 2013 and the sudden exit of the 35-year-old left Kidney with a large void that has taken the club eleven weeks to fill. There is no confirmed arrival date yet for Gonzalez Samso – if he doesn’t make the latest Argentina squad the expectation is he will soon be involved in some Premiership Cup action with Irish.

However, if he is chosen to tour Europe with the Pumas, with whom he played four times for in the Rugby Championship in Australia, it won’t be until after Argentina’s November 21 game with Ireland that the young forward will arrive at Hazelwood.

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Chris Robshaw guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload

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Chris Robshaw guests on the latest RugbyPass Offload

The question is why Kidney has opted to go for a relatively inexperienced newcomer to take over from Cowan, a dependable player 15 years older than the new arrival. “I’ll give you this because I don’t want to put it on the young lad but when Blair wasn’t going to be available through the season we went looking for the back rows that were available and it is a difficult time to recruit,” explained Kidney to RugbyPass.

“We found Samso and we just followed his progress over the last couple of months and we want him to come in and be him, not to be somebody else. That was always an opening that was created by Blair’s departure and what we need to do is learn the chemistry he is going to bring into the side.

“He can play six, he can play seven, he is a lineout option. There are different things that he is going to bring into it and I wouldn’t want to put a tag around his neck as to exactly what he will bring to it because it also goes to the mixture of the other back rows we would have with him. Ben Donnell picked up an injury then too last week, so it is timely we had the deal done with him before that injury happened. We were hoping to have both of them but we will be without Ben for a while now.”

With Agustin Creevy and Facundo Gigena already at London Irish, the Premiership club clearly has a soft spot for Argentine players but coach Kidney wasn’t making any fuss about where their recruits come from. “No, our nickname is Exiles, that is what we are and we have a broad range that we can look at.

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We don’t specifically go looking for any one nationality. We want to see who the best players out there are that are available to us and the fact that he is younger, you don’t want to say you are building for the future, you are building to the next game, but his age is a good profile for us.”

 

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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 11 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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