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Waikato loose forward Luke Jacobson is confident that Jono Gibbes is the man to turn the side around in the Mitre 10 Cup.
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The province – relegated to the competition’s Championship division after winning just two games last year – will be under the guidance of former Waikato and All Blacks flanker Gibbes for the 2018 season.
“I’ve only been in there for a couple of days but already, you notice his [Gibbes] influence on the team,” Jacobson said. “[He] seems like a very knowledgeable man.”
“I think he’s going to be really good for the team this year, a lot of knowledge and I’m looking forward to learning off him.”
Captain of the New Zealand Under 20 side in 2017, 21-year-old Jacobson is coming off a strong first year of professional rugby. The flanker made his Waikato debut last season and made 13 appearances for the Chiefs Super Rugby side this year, where he was one of the club’s top defenders. He finished his rookie campaign ranked fourth on the team in made tackles (109) and tackled at 91.7%, second highest among Chiefs forwards.
“I learned a lot from my Chiefs campaign this year. It was a good bit of fun as well, I was lucky enough to get out there on the field,” he said.
“Carrying that into Mitre 10, I’ve just got to try keep emulating that sort of high standard at the Super Rugby level.
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“Hopefully I can try and bring what we had at the Chiefs to the Waikato and lift our Waikato team to get along a bit better this year.”
The team is hoping to bounce back from a down year, and have been bolstered by several new additions to the team, while still carrying some exciting familiar faces in their 37-man squad named Thursday.
“We back ourselves to be a good battling province I’d say,” said Jacobson.
“We’ve got the likes of Sevu Reece who’s always a pretty electric player. We’ve got a new first five Fletcher Smith who’s going to be exciting, he’s looked good in training.
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“Tim Bond in the forwards, he’s new to us and he’s going to be good for us. Also the likes of Toby Smith back and James Tucker’s still going to be there.”
21-year-old Fijian winger Reece is back for his third Mitre 10 Cup campaign before he heads to Ireland where he will join PRO14 side Connacht. Highlander Fletcher Smith joins the team after spending three years with Otago, while Wallaby prop Toby Smith rejoins the province following a strong campaign with the Hurricanes.
The club also welcome Crusaders halfback Jack Stratton, while former New Zealand Sevens representatives Kylem and Declan O’Donnell return to Waikato after spending time with Taranaki.
Waikato begin their 2018 Mitre 10 Cup campaign on August 18 when they take on Manawatu in Palmerston North.
WAIKATO 2018 MITRE 10 CUP SQUAD
Forwards: Sefo Kautai, Toby Smith, Ayden Johnstone,Josh Iosefa-Scott, Haereiti Hetet, Atu Moli, Samisoni Taukeiaho, Sekope Lopeti-Moli, Mike Mayhew, Laghlan McWhannell, James Tucker, Sam Caird, Tim Bond, Jono Armstrong, Luke Jacobson, Mitch Jacobson, Adam Burn, Jordan Manihera, Jahrome Brown, Murray Iti.
Backs: Raniera Takarangi, Kylem O’Donnell, Jack Stratton, Matty Lansdown, Fletcher Smith, Damian McKenzie, Bailyn Sullivan, Quinn Tupaea, Pepesana Patafilo, Dwayne Sweeney, Anton Lienert-Brown, Mosese Dawai, Jordan Bunce, Niven Longopoa, Sevu Reece, Declan O’Donnell, Tyler Campbell.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
It’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.
24 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
1 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?
1 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
24 Go to commentsThe Crusaders can still get in to the Play Off’s. The imminent return of outstanding captain Scott Barrett and his All Black team mate Codie Taylor will be a big boost.There are others like Tamaiti Williams too. Two home games coming up. Fellow Crusader fans get there and support these guys. I will be.
1 Go to commentsCant get more Wellington than Proctor.
2 Go to commentsWhy not let the media decide. Like how they choose the head coach. Like most of us we entrust the rugby system to choose. A rugby team includes the coaches. It's collective.
14 Go to commentsHi NIck, I have been very impressed with him and he seems a smart player who can see opportunities which Bobby V _(who must be an international 6_) doesn’t see or have the speed to take advantage of. If he continues to improve and puts on 5kgs then he could be a great 8. He is a bit taller than Keiran Reid at 1.93m and 111 kgs, so his skill set fits his body size and who knows where it will lead. I hope the spate of Achilles tendon issues have been dealt with by the S&C people. It’s been a very long time since Mark Loane and Kefu stood out at 8. The question is will we be able to hold onto him, if he does make it he will be pretty hot property. I disagree with the idea of letting them go to the Northern Hemisphere and then bring them back.
24 Go to commentsBilly Fulton 🤣🤣🤣🤣 garrrmon not even close
14 Go to commentsDoes the AI take into account refs? hahaha Seriously why not have two on field refs to avoid bias?
24 Go to comments