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The latest rugby news and headlines from Wales and beyond
Here are your rugby evening headlines for Wednesday, June 24.
Rassie starts England mind games early
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus has started the mind games early ahead of their opening Nations Championship against England, describing Steve Borthwick as “someone who works with numbers and chases trends”.
The double World Cup winner has previously said the England coach “thinks like a machine… in a good way”. Now, ahead of next month’s meeting in Johannesburg, Erasmus has claimed Borthwick’s tactical approach makes it difficult to plan how to play against England.
“Tactically, Steve is someone who works with numbers and chases trends, and that’s always difficult to prepare against,” Erasmus said. “If I say we know exactly what they’ll do next Saturday, I’d be lying.
“There will be strong Northampton and Leicester representation in their squad, and they always evolve their structures. So, we think we have a reasonable idea about what they’ll do, but on the day, they could do something completely different.”
Erasmus added: “The England squad is good – their average age is about 27, and Test caps around 32, so it’s a young yet experienced squad.
“There are a few older players in their 30s, which brings the experience, but the young guys will add fearlessness into a team that was in the World Cup semi-final [in 2023], and who have competed really well off the back of the Premiership.
“It’s a very competitive squad, and we know we’ll have to work really hard against them at Ellis Park next week if we want to get a win.”
Former All Black switches allegiances
Former All Black Shaun Stevenson has confirmed he will play for Samoa when he becomes eligible later this year.
The 30-year-old back-three player previously one cap for New Zealand against Australia in 2023. Stevenson, who now plays in Japan for Kubota Spears, will become available for Samoa ahead of November following the completion of World Rugby’s three-year stand-down period.
“I felt like I still had a lot to offer New Zealand Rugby, but I was out of favour with the previous coaches, so you have to make those hard decisions,” he told RugbyJP.
The former Chiefs star also hinted that several other New Zealand-born players could join Samoa in the coming months.
Former All Black Peter Umaga-Jensen has already pledged his future to Samoa.
Stevenson made his solitary Test appearance for New Zealand in a 23-20 victory over Australia in Dunedin and was considered one of Super Rugby’s most exciting attacking players during his time with the Chiefs.
Having spent the past season in Japan, Stevenson was not eligible for selection in new All Blacks coach Dave Rennie’s latest squad.
He recently featured for Kubota Spears in the Japan Rugby League One final, where they lost to the Kobe Steelers.
He is set to be available for the November fixtures against Portugal, Zimbabwe and Spain.
Wallabies star offers verdict on Welsh signings
New Ospreys signing Liam Wright has offered his verdict on fellow Australian recruits Lalakai Foketi and Lawson Creighton.
The former Wallabies captain will join Mark Jones’ side ahead of next season as part of a trio of signings from Down Under. Centre Foketi joins after helping guide the Chiefs to the Super Rugby final, while versatile fly-half Creighton will move to Swansea from the Waratahs.
And Wright is backing both to make an impact in south Wales next season.
“I’ve played against Lalakai quite a bit over the years at the Tahs,” Wright told WalesOnline. You can read the full interview here.
“We were all kind of texting going, ‘Mate, how good is he playing in the semi-final for the Chiefs?’ Three try assists.
“He’s going to be excellent to have over there. He’s a real crash and bash guy, but he’s got some silky skills as well.
“He’s just a really good person, he’s a good family man, he’ll bring his family over there, I think he’s just had his third, so that’ll be a cool experience for them moving overseas as well.
“And I know he’s been at the Chiefs recently, but just trying something really different for them.
“Lawson as well, he’s excited. When I drove down to Sydney, I drove a big truck down to drop a bunch of stuff at my parents and then he drove it back up to Brissy to take some of his stuff back from New South Wales up to Brisbane, so it’s worked out really well.
“So I think he adds something that’s just he’s a really great team man, you can tell it in his character. He’ll kind of just do whatever and that shows in his playing style as well.
“You can see he’s a natural number 10, but he can fill in at 12 if you need, he can slot in at 15, he could pretty much play anywhere along that backline, so he’ll be pivotal for the team as well.”
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