Month: January 2023

Super Rugby Pacific 2023: Signings to Watch

Super Rugby Pacific 2023: Signings to Watch

While most rugby fans in the Northern Hemisphere are getting ready for the return of the Six Nations, the Southern Hemisphere is getting ready for the beginning of the next phase of Super Rugby. Kicking off on February 24ᵗʰ when the Crusaders host the Chiefs, this will be the second edition of the new format, which sees the 5 Australian franchises, 5 New Zealand franchises and 2 Pacific Island franchises fighting out for a title that has generally found its way to Christchurch since the 2017 tournament—Crusaders won all of the full competitions and both Super Rugby Aotearoa competitions, but were not in either season of Super Rugby AU (won by the Brumbies in 2020 then the Reds in 2021) or Super Rugby Unlocked (won by the Bulls) and just missed out on a spot in the Super Rugby Trans-Tasman final, won by the Blues.

And so, as usual, it’s time for me to look at the players who have transferred into the competition or to a new team in the competition ahead of this season and select 7 players who I think you should be keeping your eye on this season for one reason or another. Who would be your picks? Let me know in the comments!

feat rugby Super Rugby Pacific logo

Freddie Burns

Starting with a very recent transfer as it was announced just last weekend that Freddie Burns would be released from his contract with Leicester Tigers in order to join the Highlanders. Having originally come through and made his name at Gloucester, Burns is a player who I have always kept an eye on and enjoyed watching. Considered somewhat of a maverick fly half early in his career, he has matured over the years into a solid and reliable 10 who can vary up the attack. Has years of experience in the Premiership with time spent at Gloucester and Bath and 2 spells at Leicester, while he also spent a year in Japan with the Shokki Shuttles and picked up 5 senior caps for England early in his career. Something makes me feel that Burns’ style of play will work nicely down in Dunedin, and teams should watch out for his tried and tested chip and chase in and around their 22.

Patrick Tuipulotu

The 43-cap All Black returns from Toyota Verblitz, and boy will the Blues need him with Luke Romano retiring and Josh Goodhue going the other way to join Black Rams Tokyo. A strong but dynamic carrier, Tuipulotu was a key part of the Blues’ rise up the table in recent years and a leader in the team. But more than anything, this season could see him competing with the younger Tupou Vaa’i for the final second row spot in the All Blacks’ World Cup squad.

John Ryan

Maybe a bit of a surprise that I have picked a front row over Damian McKenzie, but the scrum is such a key part of rugby at the moment, both as a platform to attack off and a weapon to win penalties. As such, the loss of Angus Ta’avao for the season with a neck injury could have been huge, but the Chiefs have reacted well with the addition of John Ryan. Boasting over 200 appearances for Munster and 24 Ireland caps, Ryan will provide an experienced and solid option to help secure the scrum and put the Chiefs on the front foot.

Melani Nanai

How do you improve one of the strongest teams in rugby? Well the Crusaders look like they have managed to do so once again by adding to their depth on the wing with Melani Nanai. The Samoan did not have the most successful of times at Worcester, but he is a proven threat in Super Rugby, having played 5 seasons for the Blues before their recent upturn in results. With Braydon Ennor and David Havili having both transitioned from the back 3 to centres, Nanai adds some depth to the back 3 to allow a rotation alongside All Blacks trio Will Jordan, Sevu Reece and Leicester Fainga’anuku.

Jack Debreczeni

Another player making the return from Japan, the former Melbourne Rebel arrives from the Hino Red Dolphins. Capable of covering 10 or 15, Debreczini can help Noah Lolesio by being a veteran presence to learn off, while also providing a second playmaking option as a 15 with regular fullback Tom Banks going to one of Debreczini’s old clubs, Honda Heat.

Monty Ioane

A major loss for the Azzurri’s Six Nations campaign, Montanna Ioane was released from his Benetton contract for mental health reasons and chose to return to Australia, eventually being picked up by the Melbourne Rebels. The nephew of former Wallaby Digby Ioane, Monty Ioane frequently impressed in poor Italian sides with his strong carrying and good footwork creating metres despite them having few other weapons to take the defence’s focus off him, and will surely benefit from the space opened up by the hard carrying of Cabous Eloff and Pone Fa’amausili.

Harrison Goddard

And we finish off the list with what I believe (without going back to check) to be an historic moment on this site by selecting a player transferring from Major League Rugby. After amassing just 41 minutes of Super Rugby in 3 seasons with the Rebels, Goddard made the decision to move stateside and join the LA Giltinis, helping them win the MLR in their debut season and being named the team’s Most Valuable Player for their 2022 season—an impressive feat in a team that boasted players such as Billy Meakes, Matt Giteau, DTH van der Merwe, Dave Dennis, Adam Ashe and Hanco Germishuys. Now he’s back in Australia with the Waratahs, who are coached by Darren Coleman, who was coach of the Giltinis in their debut season, so will surely be given a chance to compete with captain Jake Gordan for the 9 shirt. If Goddard can propel himself into a successful career following his return to Australia, don’t be shocked to see other young players follow in his footsteps and using the MLR to gain some much-needed experience of regular professional rugby before returning back to fight for a starting spot in one of the top leagues.

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Six Nations 2023: 6 to Watch

Six Nations 2023: 6 to Watch

We are now less than 2 weeks away from the 2023 edition of the Six Nations, and boy is this edition going to be exciting. Wales and England come in with new head coaches, while Italy arrive with genuine belief of picking up some wins after wins over both Wales and Australia in 2022. And to top it all off, these 5 matches will likely go a long way to helping the coaches select their squads for the 2023 Rugby World Cup, with only a couple of pre-tournament warm-ups remaining after the Six Nations.

And so with the initial squads announced, it’s time for my annual look at each squad and selection of a player to keep your eyes on. And with the World Cup so close, I considered looking at some players who are maybe on the fringes of the squads, but found myself largely selecting young players who at this point are probably pushing to start but may not yet be household names. Who would your picks be?

England

Billy Vunipola’s disappointing return to the England squad is over and Tom Curry is out injured (but would hopefully not be used at 8 by Steve Borthwick), so with Zach Mercer still in France, this is a chance for Alex Dombrandt to try making the 8 shirt his own. A strong but dynamic carrier and real threat at the breakdown, the arrival of Harlequins’ Nick Evans as attack coach will surely get the best out of the Cardiff Met alumnus.

France

France did things right by completely rebooting their squad at the start of the cycle with 2023 in mind, so most places in the 23 are now secured. However the retirement of Virimi Vakatawa for medical reasons and a recent knee injury ruling out Jonathan Danty for 3 months, the centre position looks a little thin. Step up Yoram Moefana, who will provide another hard carrying option in the midfield. If he can form a strong connection with Romain Ntamack and Gaël Fickou, could he oust Danty from the starting spot come the World Cup?

Ireland

Sticking in the centres here and Stuart McCloskey had a strong Autumn campaign at 2 with Bundee Aki missing through a ban. Well Aki is back now but McCloskey also remains courtesy of Robbie Henshaw’s ban. A strong carrier with an eye for an offload, the 30-year-old Ulster star should have arguably earned more caps, having not yet even hit double figures! Can he do enough to beat out Aki for the 12 shirt? This could be the difference between a place in the World Cup squad or watching the tournament at home.

Italy

The most-capped player on this list, Jake Polledri was well on his way to becoming one of the very best number s in the game until a horror injury left his career in the balance. Well he’s back and included in the Italy squad, but has had little playing time for Gloucester this season. At his best, he has the pace to exploit a gap and the strength to make ground with every carry, while he is also an accomplished jackal. The question right now is just what level he can reach ahead of the World Cup and how much we will see him in this Six Nations.

Scotland

While Duhan van der Merwe has one wing secured, Darcy Graham’s injury presents an opportunity for Kyle Steyn. Eligible to play for Scotland via his mother, Steyn brings pace and power to the wing, which is arguably something that Scotland have often not had enough of in their lineup. Scored 4 tries on his first start for Scotland against Tonga and will surely be keen to secure his place in the squad ahead of the World Cup.

Wales

Wales’ late capitulation against Australia in the Autumn may have brought about the end of Wayne Pivac’s tenure, but it was also the Test debut for Ospreys’ Joe Hawkins. A talented playmaker who appeared to make a real difference in getting the team firing against the Wallabies after a series of dour performances, he also seems to fit the Warren Gatland template of a big physical 12 as he is comfortable taking the ball to the line and taking the contact himself. At just 20 years old, Wales may have finally found the long-term successor to Jamie Roberts and Hadleigh Parkes.

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Top 5: Scrum Halves

Top 5: Scrum Halves

Welcome back to my “Top 5” rugby series. This 13-article series has been inspired by countless conversations among friends or other fans over the years and will see me selecting my top 5 men’s rugby players who are currently playing at each position.

With all of these lists, I am picking who I feel are the best 5 at each position, so there may be some surprises in there as I select the players who I feel are most appropriate to the position despite there being multiple ways to play many positions. I try to watch rugby from a broad range of leagues as well as plenty (or too much, depending how you ask) of Test matches, but I appreciate that I still have some blind spots, while a list like this is subjective; so while the majority of each article will be my list, I also set my good friend and occasional collaborator Phil the challenge to select his top 5, which I will include below. I’d also love to hear your picks, so go ahead and post them in the comments!

And so, having finally completed the pack last week, let’s look at the scrum halves.

Top 5

Antoine Dupont

One of the sport’s true superstars. France has a history of special players at scrum half (Galthié, Yachvili, Parra etc) but Dupont takes things to another level. A great passer of the ball and a fantastic tactical kicker, Dupont’s ability to find and exploit a gap means that he needs to be accounted for every second of the game, while his pace and elusiveness is coupled with unexpected strength for his size, and he knows just what line to run to be in the right place to keep any line break going and often take it to the line himself.

Aaron Smith

One of the purest passers of the ball I have ever seen. To have so many caps at scrum half for the All Blacks shows his quality, and it is exacerbated even more when you consider that the vast majority of those caps are starts, and that his career has been at the same time as TJ Perenara, who at his best would walk into most teams. Smith is also a great tactical kicker and uses his experience to ensure the All Blacks are playing in the right areas of the pitch.

Faf de Klerk

Such is the quality available to the Springboks they almost ended up with 2 names on this list, but in the end it was Faf de Klerk who just snuck on. While he may not have the running game of Cobus Reinach, de Klerk’s kicking game from 9 is up there with the very best, and he has made a career of moving the behemoths in the Springbok pack around the pitch, while he also fronts up in defence and proves a real nuisance of himself.

Nic White

White was originally nowhere near this list, but as time went on I saw him climbing his way up my rankings, and deservedly so. The type of player who you love if he’s on your team but otherwise hate due to his inability to shut up and the way he uses his experience to buy penalties. Another expert tactical kicker whose threat around the fringes of the breakdown is underrated, he is another solid defender, so much so that Australia look to use him in the defensive line. Exeter have never come close to replacing him since he returned to Australia.

Josh Cooney

Incredibly, 2 articles in my row I find myself picking a player who appears to be completely overlooked by the national team. While Conor Murray continues to get picked years after he made a positive difference, Cooney’s status as not a Leinster player (surely that’s the only reason) means that he is ignored time and time again, despite being arguably the best all-round scrum half in Ireland. runs great lines, passes and kicks well, and is also a Test-quality goal kicker—who has recently been in contact with a trained sniper to help him continue improving in this area. Eligible to switch international allegiances due to how long it has been since his last cap, will we see him gracing the Test arena for Scotland in the near future?

Toppng-No-Background

Phil’s top 5: Antoine Dupont, Faf de Klerk, Aaron Smith, Cobus Reinach, Nic White

Who makes your top 5?

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You can find all the details on my announcement.

Visit my JustGiving page for updates or if you would like to donate.

Help me to change the face of men’s health!

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Top 5: Number 8s

Top 5: Number 8s

Welcome back to my “Top 5” rugby series. This 13-article series has been inspired by countless conversations among friends or other fans over the years and will see me selecting my top 5 men’s rugby players who are currently playing at each position.

With all of these lists, I am picking who I feel are the best 5 at each position, so there may be some surprises in there as I select the players who I feel are most appropriate to the position despite there being multiple ways to play many positions. I try to watch rugby from a broad range of leagues as well as plenty (or too much, depending how you ask) of Test matches, but I appreciate that I still have some blind spots, while a list like this is subjective; so while the majority of each article will be my list, I also set my good friend and occasional collaborator Phil the challenge to select his top 5, which I will include below. I’d also love to hear your picks, so go ahead and post them in the comments!

And so, over half a year after starting this series, let’s complete the pack by looking at the number 8s.

Top 5

Ardie Savea

You could easily make an argument that with Hoskins Sotutu available for the All Blacks, Savea could be used to fill the 6 shirt that has been a problem for New Zealand for a long time, but for now he is being kept at 8, having transitioned from being a 7 earlier in his career to fill the spot left by Kieran Read’s retirement. And what a revelation he has been! Has the strength to keep going forward despite 2 or 3 men trying to tackle him and the handling skills to then offload to a teammate who can take advantage of the space he has created, while if he gets the ball in space, he has the pace to cause problems, and his past as a 7 also makes him a danger at the breakdown. One of the few bright sparks during a dark era for the All Blacks.

Taulupe Faletau

Where would Wales have been without Faletau? The Tongan-born number 8 has been a model of consistency over the years for Wales. While maybe not the big carrier like many on this list, he is still willing to put in the hard metres, but his reliability is his key feature, as he always seems to be in the right place offensively or defensively to clean up any loose balls or messy play.

Grégory Alldritt

With players like Dupont and Ntamack in the team, Alldritt appears to sometimes go under the radar, but he is such a key part of France’s success. A strong carrier who helps put the attack on the front foot, he is also a nightmare to deal with at the breakdown. Forget about him at your peril when you face Les Bleus.

Kazuki Himeno

One of the few Japanese players to go move abroad and still excel in recent years. Capable of playing across the back row, Himeno is a strong and dynamic carrier, a reliable tackler but also a major threat at the breakdown. Became a fan favourite in his one season with the Highlanders and was arguably the star of the Japanese pack at the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

Zach Mercer

In an ideal world, I would be picking Jake Polledri to complete the top 5. However, after such a serious injury that saw him out of the game or so long, we are still at such an early stage of his return, there is no guarantee that he will be able to reach the heights that he was promising beforehand. So instead I have gone for Zach Mercer, who it would appear will be replacing him at Kingsholm next season. I don’t generally pick players who aren’t playing Test rugby in my top 5 as it means they aren’t proving themselves at the highest level, but Mercer has been a superstar both for Bath and Montpellier. A highly dynamic player with underrated strength and great handling skills, Eddie Jones’ refusal to select him for England was mystifying, but a return to England and the sacking of Eddie Jones could see him just sneak into the World Cup squad.

Toppng-No-Background

Phil’s top 5: Duane Vermeulen, Ardie Savea, Taulupe Faletau, Billy Vunipola, Grégory Alldritt

Who makes your top 5?

Movember_Partner Badges_Proud Mo Grower_BlackThis year, I’m doing Movember a little different with my Movember Marathon.

You can find all the details on my announcement.

Visit my JustGiving page for updates or if you would like to donate.

Help me to change the face of men’s health!

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The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (season 2)

The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers (season 2)

Happy New Year and welcome to Sport on the Silver Screen. In this series, I will be looking back over sports movies and series that I have recently watched/re-watched and giving my thoughts on them. Getting into the Schmoedown and starting to follow a number of the personalities from the show has given me a much greater appreciation of movies and seen me starting to watch more, while a resolution for 2022 has also seen me making a resolution to watch more series.

Being a fan of both movies and sports, I have taken the chance to start highlighting the sheer volume of sports movies out there, while also now throwing in the occasional series. In each article I will be giving some details about the movie/series and then a quick review, including a section giving a sports fan’s perspective of the action’s realism.

This series has been heavily influenced by Ben Bateman and Andrew Ghai of Action Industries, but I will not be looking at the traditional “Fist-pump moment” and “Favourite line” sections due to just how much more content a series provides compared to a movie, instead talking about the prospects for the future of the show. Be aware, there will be spoilers, but I will try to keep them to a minimum.

Back at the start of 2022 I reviewed the first season of The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, now I open up the new year with a look back at season 2.

ss mighty ducks game changers season 2 poster

Key facts

Episodes 10

Released in 2022

Distribution (UK) Disney+

Starring Lauren Graham, Brady Noon, Josh Duhamel, Maxwell Simkins, Swayam Bhatia

Synopsis When the Mighty Ducks are accidentally invited to an elite summer performance camp in California, they must try to find the balance between fitting in and having fun, while Evan Morrow finds his relationships tested as he looks to prove himself worthy of recognition from the camp’s creator and further his hockey career.

Review

“If season 1 has set the show up well, season 2 feels crucial right now for the longevity of the series.”

That’s how I finished my review of season 1 and look ahead to season 2. Season 1 did a great job of establishing the characters and the team, but the loss of Emilio Estevez (reportedly due to creative differences and a contract dispute) had me worried. Well my fears were proved true: this season lacked the Bombay/Ducks magic.

It very much felt like the writers knew that they wanted Estevez back too, as rather than just carry on by going into the next season, the show was put into a holding pattern by sending them away from Minnesota and to a summer camp in California, allowing them to conveniently explain away Bombay’s absence while leaving the door very much open for a season 3 return. But what it also did was press the reset button, as it went from the Ducks having just proved themselves as the top teamin the district to being the zeroes at the camp, while the characters also appeared to reset to a degree (at least those who appeared, some of the Ducks mysteriously disappeared with no explanation), with Evan once again trying to balance his friendships with the allure of playing for a better team to learn from a better head coach, Alex back to focusing on fun rather than hockey, while Sofi felt like about the only player who continued to progress from last season as she looked to build on her new freedom and reduced responsibility. Meanwhile, it felt like may of the other Ducks were just left for schtick as focus was given to new characters, notably Josh Duhamel’s Coach Cole, Naveen Paddock as Jace Cole and Connor DeWolfe (who you may know from his Tik Toks about his ADHD) as A.J. Lawrence and a host of other supporting characters who are likely to be one-and-done due to the summer cam setting.

Even more disappointing was the lack of historic Duck presence, surely again impacted by COVID affecting filming, as we were left with a blink and you’ll miss it cameo from Fulton Reed and Dean Portman in the opening minutes of the first episode—honestly it was just thrown in there in such a way, my brain didn’t even click that the character with Fulton was Portman until their scene was already over! To make it worse, the series even feels like it is setting up another historic Ducks appearance towards the end of the season to get the new team firing, but it instead ends up with a random nobody telling and showing Alex how the Ducks found their own way to play. Maybe for an audience new to the series it works, but for someone who grew up on the trilogy of movies, this was disappointing.

However it wasn’t all negatives. The games of ice hockey were pretty good (on the rare occasions we got some), and there were some fun moments, while Rich Eisen being the commentator for the matches was a real highlight for me. But to me, the best bit of the series was the story of the Coles and the arc that father and son went on. Yes it was a bit ham-fisted at times and ace’s character grated for a little in the third quarter of the show, but everything ame good and we got a beautiful emotional resolution to their arc. I hope the pair do return in the future, though I’m not sure how it would work.

A few final thoughts on the series:

  • A quick scene that hinted at a potential missed romance for Nick felt completely out of place. I don’t know if I’m as oblivious as him, but I saw nothing during the 2 seasons that had hinted to that being a possibility.
  • The final 2 episodes saw the return of a character from season 1 that made no sense at all given that there is only meant to be a couple of months between the 2 series, and I don’t even understand the need for it as a new character would have worked equally well.

The Future

As of the time of writing, a third season has not been announced, but I would be shocked if Disney does not continue with this franchise at least for 1 more series.

And if it gets that chance, it needs to start moving forward. To me, this show needs Estevez to return, but if that can’t be worked out, the show needs to confidently move forward without him, and an ideal world then would probably see Joshua Jackson return as Charlie Conway to fill the Estevez/Duhamel spot, or at least see more inclusion of the historic Ducks.

The kids are at that perfect age to look at so many personal storylines. We’ve already had one romance within the team, and I think tha romance and sex and puberty could become even more prevalent in the stories as the players go through their teens, while they can also have other pressures associated with growing up in your teens. Similarly with a racially diverse cast and some LGBTQ+ relationships already set up, the show could also look to address important issues like racism and homophobia. But there is also an opportunity here to put the Ducks in a position that we have never really seen them in before: on the top of the pile; the hunted rather than the hunter. For this we would need to see an improvement in Alex’s character to become a better coach, bu could lead to some great situations, as wins would be expected now, but personal issues or on-ice issues (such as a return of Sofi’s knee injury) could cause the team to lose.

For me, there are enough opportunities for a season 3, especially considering the issues that the cast and crew had to contend with for season 2. But season 3 now feels like it could be make or break for the franchise.

What did you think of this series? Let me know in the comments. Until next time!

Movember_Partner Badges_Proud Mo Grower_BlackThis year, I’m doing Movember a little different with my Movember Marathon.

You can find all the details on my announcement.

Visit my JustGiving page for updates or if you would like to donate.

Help me to change the face of men’s health!

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