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Wallaroos shift Palu from midfield to blindside in team for England
Coach Jay Tregonning has pulled a surprise in the Wallaroos line-up to face world No.1-ranked England in the WXV1 rugby tournament, switching centre Siokapesi Palu to the back-row.
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The Australians open their campaign in Wellington against England on Friday night, followed by matches against France and Wales.
Palu plays in the centres for the ACT Brumbies but Tregonning said the transition of the 27-year-old to the blindside flanker role had been months in the making.
“She’s been working all year as a bit of a utility for us, floating between the centres and the back-row and she’s really come a long way,” the coach said.
“She brings a good line-out option and a great ball-carry for us.”
In other changes, 23-year-old NSW prop Brianna Hoy will make her Wallaroos debut as one of six changes in the starting XV from the team’s loss to New Zealand last month.
Reds halfback Sarah Dougherty and Waratahs outside back Desiree Miller are also in line for their first Test caps after being included on the bench.
NSW lock Atasi Lafai makes her return to the match-day squad for the first time in over a year, having suffered a serious ankle injury during last year’s Rugby World Cup.
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The Wallaroos qualified as one of six teams in the inaugural top-tier tournament, hosted by New Zealand.
Tregonning said exposure to the Six Nations’ northern-hemisphere sides would be valuable and a different challenge for the fifth-ranked Australians, who most regularly face New Zealand.
“England are obviously very set-piece dominant and will take us to our set-piece fairly regularly,” he said.
“We know that the Black Ferns like to attack from anywhere and are a bit more unpredictable whereas England, we kind of know what’s there and it’s down to us to try to stop that and we’ve been working hard on our set-piece.
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“It’s an awesome opportunity for the Wallaroos to play against Six Nations states and for this to occur every year to increase the the experience of the group is outstanding.”
Captain Michaela Leonard, who has a new lock partner in Annabelle Codey, said it was exciting for the team to challenge themselves against the best in the world.
She has recent experience playing with and against the England players, having spent a season with UK club Exeter.
“We want to keep challenging ourselves to be the best in the world and to do that we need to compete with the best in the world,” said Leonard, who was a star junior basketballer before taking up rugby in 2018.
“Getting the opportunity to play against England, France and Wales during this campaign is just going to help building on what we’ve learned over the last few months against the Black Ferns and help putting us in good stead to challenge the world standings and keep moving up that ranking.”
Wallaroos: Brianna Hoy, Tania Naden, Eva Karpani, Michaela Leonard (c), Annabelle Codey, Siokapesi Palu, Emily Chancellor, Kaitlan Leaney, Layne Morgan, Carys Dallinger, Ivania Wong, Arabella McKenzie, Georgina Friedrichs, Maya Stewart, Faitala Moleka. Res: Adiana Talakai, Bree-Anna Cheatham, Emily Robinson, Atasi Lafai, Ashley Marsters, Sarah Dougherty, Cecilia Smith, Desiree Miller.
Comments on RugbyPass
What a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
40 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
40 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
4 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
4 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to comments