The Western Force rose from the dead to beat the ACT Brumbies 29-22 in an entertaining Super 14 clash on Friday. The match had no bearing on the finals, but the Force’s seventh win ensured they finished as the second-best Australian side this season, behind the Waratahs.
Australia’s Brumbies will not to be sidetracked by history or the widely acclaimed Stormers injuries in the run-up to Saturday’s make-or-break Super 14 clash at Newlands. The history books will show that the last time the Brumbies lost at Newlands was in 1998, and apart from one draw in 2006, they’ve always defeated the Stormers in the Mother City in a decade of clashes.
The Sharks believe their efforts to remain unbeaten in the Super 14 became more difficult when their 10th-round opponents, the ACT Brumbies, announced midweek that coach Laurie Fisher would not be re-hired for 2009. Super 14 tradition suggests that teams whose coaches are dismissed in the course of any season respond with an immediate form improvement.
The ACT Brumbies overcame a crippling injury toll to beat the Cheetahs 29-23 in the Super 14 in Canberra on Friday. The Brumbies survived a late fightback from the visitors to chalk up their third win of the season while earning a valuable bonus point to stay in contention for a place in the finals nearing the halfway stage of the competition.
A senior Australian Rugby Union official agreed on Monday with aspects of a written complaint about South African referee Willie Roos’s performance during the ACT Brumbies’ loss to the Wellington Hurricanes on Friday night. Peter Marshall said Roos’s decision to award 39 penalties and free kicks had a negative impact on the game.
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/ 14 February 2008
The new Super 14 season, which begins on Friday, could help determine whether South Africa’s dominance of world rugby was a one-year wonder. South Africa provided both teams in last year’s Super 14 final — the Bulls beat the Sharks — and the Springboks went on to win the sixth World Cup in France.
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/ 9 December 2007
Unsuccessful All Blacks coaching candidate Robbie Deans has been granted a late interview for the vacant Wallabies job, the Australian Rugby Union said on Sunday. Deans, who missed out on the All Blacks position when the New Zealand Rugby Union decided to reappoint incumbent Graham Henry on Friday, had now asked to be considered for the Australian job.
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/ 2 November 2007
Broadcaster Alan Jones has applied for the job of Wallabies coach and said he wants to be an agent of change. Jones, who coached the Wallabies from 1984 to 1988, said he did not expect to take the team through to the next World Cup in 2011 but wanted to introduce a more attacking style of play.
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/ 30 October 2007
South Africa’s World Cup-winning coach Jake White has shown interest in the vacant Wallabies post via his agent, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) said on Tuesday. ARU high-performance manager Pat Howard confirmed that agent Craig Livingstone contacted him on White’s behalf last week, but he had heard nothing further.
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/ 24 October 2007
Former Australia coach Alan Jones would be prepared to return to his old post if he is asked to take over from the outgoing John Connolly. Queensland Rugby Union chairperson Peter Lewis suggested on Tuesday that Jones would be the ideal person to coach the Wallabies.