Your rugby headlines from around the world on Wednesday, August 27
Shane Christie has died aged 39(Image: Evan Barnes/Getty Images)
These are your morning headlines on Wednesday, August 27.
Ex-Maori All Black dies aged 39
Shane Christie, the ex-Maori All Black and former Highlanders flanker, has died aged 39.
New Zealand Rugby paid tribute to the player and his dedication to coaching after he had hung up his boots.
Christie, who earned eight caps for the Maori All Blacks, represented the Highlanders 29 times. His career ended in 2017 after he suffered serious concussion symptoms.
“It is with deep sadness that we acknowledge the passing of Shane Christie,” NZ Rugby said in a statement issued to Stuff.
“Shane represented Aotearoa New Zealand in both the All Blacks Sevens and the Māori All Blacks jerseys.
“He played in our domestic competitions and Super Rugby, forging deep connections with the Tasman Mako and the Highlanders. He was passionate about coaching, holding coaching roles with Tasman, for both their women’s and men’s teams, and the Highlanders.
“Any time the rugby community loses a member it is felt deeply. Shane’s passion for the game will be remembered always. Our thoughts are with Shane’s whānau, friends, former team-mates, and community at this incredibly difficult time.”
Christie had campaigned for greater awareness of concussion and wanted his brain to be studied to analyse the effect CTE injury had on players.
“The death will be referred to the coroner and we have no further information or comment we can provide,” said police.
Nelson lawyer Craig Morice, who counted Christie as a friend as well as a client, was left shocked by his sudden passing.
“Shane was an incredibly nice, caring person,” Morice told Stuff.
“He was a friend and I am just so sad for his family, friends and team-mates he has left behind. I will miss him dearly.”
Call the Samaritans in the UK on 116 123Former England star would ‘love’ Anglo-Welsh league
Former England fly-half Toby Flood says he would love to see an Anglo-Welsh league moving forward. There have long been calls for the Welsh teams to try get into the Gallagher PREM, with the radical plans to cut from four professional teams to two only heightening those shouts.
And the former Newcastle and Leicester Tigers playmaker believes Welsh sides would make a great addition to England’s domestic game.
“I’d love an Anglo-Welsh competition,” Flood told AceOdds. “It’d be great. Get the latest breaking Welsh rugby news stories sent straight to your inbox with our FREE daily newsletter. Sign up here.
“There’s issues around Welsh rugby in terms of how many regions they have and the financial impact of that. That doesn’t stop it from happening in terms of the actual tournament.
“I remember playing in the Anglo-Welsh tournament for Newcastle in my first ever start at fly-half for them against the Scarlets. I remember getting battered!
“I remember it was a great place to go and play rugby. You could definitely feel that tension when the English were in town.”
Wales star in admission
Wales forward Gwen Crabb says their physicality was “nowhere near where it needed to be” in their opening-round Rugby World Cup defeat to Scotland at the weekend.
Sean Lynn’s side were put to the sword by their Six Nations rivals, who ran in six tries and inflicted a huge blow to Wales’ qualification hopes.
They now faced Canada, widely tipped to push England for the title of world champions, at the weekend and Crabb says the focus this week has been on fronting up.
“It has been really interesting to be able to reflect and to be able to open up as a group, I think you can really learn a lot from losing like that,” she said.
“I think if we can get that right, it really feeds into every other part of our game,” Crabb added.
“We need to win that physicality battle, and then we can get out, go forward and we can play in our structure.
“We’ve done all the physical preparation, it’s just how do we get ourselves in a place where we go and take a really physical team to dark places?”
Canada will be a tough ask, however. Their last meeting with Wales saw the North American outfit emerge with a 42-22 victory in 2023.
“They are a very physical team, they are second in the world, they are up there with some of the favourites to win this tournament,” said Crabb.
“But for me personally and I think as a team, that makes us really excited, because, yes, we are the underdogs, but we have also got nothing to lose.
“We have got everything to gain because we are really disappointed in the way that we portrayed ourselves as a team at the weekend.
“We have not put all the hard work in that we have, and got to the place where we’re at as a team, to not show that when it matters most on the pitch.
“We have to find a way to get to those quarter-finals and this weekend is going to play a huge role for that, so we’ve just got to go after it.”