Wednesday’s Rugby News has Les Kiss putting the “bring back the old farts” chat to one side, the Super Rugby Pacific 2027 draw, Jeremy Paul telling it like it is with scrumming and the wild idea that the South African broadcaster might not be as pure as the driven snow.
Kiss backs young flies-half
Harry McLaughlin-Phillips makes a break
With first-choice Carter Gordon sidelined with a broken leg, this week Wallabies coach Les Kiss included uncapped 22-year-old Harry McLaughlin-Phillips alongside Ben Donaldson and Declan Meredith as his three five-eighths (being 15/8 or 1.875) in a 34-man squad for the Sunday 27 September Test against South Africa in Perth for the Morgan Freeman Plate.
Nathan Williamson reports for Pravda that Kiss plans on backing the younger contemporaries at his disposal, using James O’Connor (36, Western Force) and Bernard “Axel” Foley (37, Tahs) as merely insurance options if others don’t step up.
“To have the opportunity to have Harry McLaughlin-Phillips come in and work with us and see how we work, and obviously Donno has 20-odd Tests already, so he’s building a bit of experience,” Kiss said.
“We’ve got young Declan Meredith, who’s been in superb form for the Brumbies all year, and he’s done really well for us over the last four weeks and he’s played three Test matches to date in this campaign.”
“So those younger guys, we’re trying to make sure we get them upskilled, then understand how they can lead the game and drive it forward.”
“Part of the thinking was ensuring that those guys can have a bit of blue sky (steady on!) and make sure they take the team and the game forward the way we’d like to.”
“And we know that we can always lean back into the experience if we need to.”
“So we felt it was just the right decision to bring Harry in and continue the work that he did about five or six weeks ago when he was with the team, and that was our rationale with the experience versus some of the younger guys.”
Super Rugby Pacific 2027 draw
PERTH, AUSTRALIA – MAY 24: Western Force and NSW Waratahs players scuffle after a try during the round 15 Super Rugby Pacific match between Western Force and NSW Waratahs at HBF Park, on May 24, 2025, in Perth, Australia. It’s a safe bet that the Force scored and the Tah players are being grubs about it (Photo by Travis Hayto/Getty Images)
The 2027 Super rugby draw is out, with plenty of Sunday afternoon games in a 17-round, 80 game regular season before the Reds clean up in the finals.
Sunday afternoon games for Godless sodomites will be:
21 Feb (Reds v Chiefs @ Suncorp, 15:05 kick off)
28 Feb (Blues v Crusaders @ Eden Park)
28 March (Reds v Drua @ Suncorp 15:10 kick off)
4 April (part of Super Round @ Christchurch with Highlanders v Drua then Canes v Reds)
11 April (Tahs v Crusaders @ Allianz Sydney 14:00 ko)
2 May (Tahs v Force @ Allianz Sydney TBC kick off because New South Welsh people couldn’t run a bath)
9 May (Force v Highlanders @ Perth 14:05 sandy time)
16 May (Highlanders v Canes @ Dunedin)
Eight teams will have the bye in Round 11, leaving the Wallaby-depleted Reds to host the Blues on the Anzac Day weekend, the day before the maiden Bledisloe Cup Test on April 25.
The top six teams at the end of the season will contest a three-week Finals Series, with the top two progressing directly to the semi-finals and teams ranked third and fourth hosting sudden-death elimination finals against the sixth and fifth teams.
The Grand Final will be contested on June 26, probably at Suncorp Stadium.
Jeremy Paul no fan of “brake foot” and can sort “walking around”
According to Planet Rugby, former Wallabies hooker Jeremy Paul has claimed that World Rugby’s ‘brake foot’ law is “dangerous” after an All Blacks coach’s comments after Japie v Shepherd’s Nemeses series.
New Zealand were penalised twice early on against South Africa at the weekend for scrum infringements, firstly with a free-kick and then with a long-arm penalty. On both occasions, referee Karl Dickson was unhappy with their brake foot, where the hooker has one foot positioned in the middle of the tunnel prior to engagement.
All Blacks forwards coach Neil Barnes put forward the balanced and diplomatic submission that “no one gives a s*** about” that law.
The brake foot law was first introduced four years ago with World Rugby stating that it is designed to create more stability and reduce axial loading – the pressure on the head and neck.
But Jeremy Paul, who played in the front-row for the Wallabies between 1998 and 2006, disagrees and believes that it is not safe.
“That is dangerous as hell, you’ve got 900 kilos behind you. We’re going to go back to 5ft 5in hookers because anyone over 6ft 2in, you’re going to struggle,” he told the GBRANZ podcast.
“You have to bring that foot back so you’re on the balls of your feet because then in that way you actually go in safely.”
“What they’re asking you to do is come up over your front foot, they’re asking you to plant your front foot. It’s actually an incredibly hard thing to do to leave your foot there because you’re not actually going in straight and safe.”
“Whichever idiot in World Rugby decided to bring this rule in about brake foot, you are up for a massive, massive hurt here where it’s dangerous, it’s absolutely dangerous. You can’t have the hookers having a flat foot when the other seven players are on the balls of their feet.”
“When you say brake foot, I can’t stop 900 f*****g kilos from coming behind me, I can’t stop it by having my foot planted on the ground. Everybody’s got to be on the balls of their feet and it’s insane referees are penalising.”
Paul added the extras about teams “walking around”, an Al Blacks complaint about the Springboks this series.
“It’s everything to do with your hips in a scrum. As soon as your hips start to split, that’s when you start to splinter.”
“In terms of when it’s your ball… the loosehead is channel one and they’ve got to keep their hips close to the hooker. As soon as it’s opposition ball, they will kick their hips out because they’ve got nowhere else to go.”
“For a referee to referee the walking around s***, everything else, just look at the hips. You’re on the loosehead side watching the put-in, so you can see on the opposite side where that loosehead’s hips are.”
“To make a ruling, it’s very simple. If the loosehead on the defensive side has broken away from the hips here (the hooker), it’s their fault – it’s that simple.”
“They’ve made out this whole walking around and it’s because of this, it’s bull****, no one ever walks around on their own ball.”
“If everyone scrummaged like they’re scrummaging on their own ball, we could eliminate all these bull**** rules and get rid of this brake-foot as that’s dangerous; you’re going to break someone’s neck.”
“It’s as simple as that and you fix scrummaging.”
That’s World Rugby told!
SA TV broadcaster might be up to mischief. Also, Catholic Pope to reveal where bears go to loo.
Rugby Championship Test between New Zealand and South Africa at CBus Super Stadium on October 2nd 2021 on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. (Photo by Stephen Tremain)
Brace for a shock. Eloise’s favourite paper, Wales Online, reports that the All Blacks have accused South Africa’s broadcaster of giving the Japies preferential treatment with match replays during their latest clash – claiming officials were shown footage that favoured the home team.
New Zealand assistant coach Neil “Staff Sergent” Barnes made the allegation after the Springboks completed a 3-1 series victory in the Greatest Rivalry Series with a 43-28 win in Baltimore, Septictankistan.
Barnes claimed the South African broadcaster repeatedly showed replays of incidents that benefitted the Springboks to the match officials, while the All Blacks were not given the same treatment when decisions went against them.
He also suggested officials were sometimes shown footage they had not specifically requested.
“You have to put up with the screens when the South Africans are running things that are showing things entirely different to what the referees asked for, and the referees see it and go back to it,” Barnes told Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB.
“But you don’t get the same luxury when something is on the other side of the coin.”
“We’ve got to be in a position where we can actually control the game for longer with the speed of it, fatigue them more.”
“But every time they keep getting penalties for bugger all and get to slow the game down, it brings them back into it.”
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