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Wallabies prop and ACT Brumbies captain Allan Alaalatoa has paid tribute to departing club assistant coach Laurie Fisher, and given an insight into the first camp under Eddie Jones.
Fisher has announced he will hang up the bucket hat at the end of the current season, although Alaalatoa doesn’t expect the Brumbies mentor to put it away for good.
“I think he’s gonna probably going to down the coast, go fishing, have a few beers and he’ll still have the Brumbies bucket hat on,” Alaalatoa said on Monday.
“He’s someone that’s given so much to the club. he first gave me my opportunity in 2013 here at the Brumbies and was a huge part to why I stayed here. I knew that being coached under Lordy I was only going to grow as a player.
“He tells it how it is. Top man but no matter who you are in the club, he’ll just tell you straight and he’s someone that’s adapted well with the times.
“The boys are a bit devastated – he’s just so good at the job, it’s mainly just his attention to detail. The passion he shows every day, week in week out.
“He’s here on days off watching different club games from overseas and he’s always trying to find ways to grow his coaching game and find ways to make us better as individuals. I think he’s still going to be involved in rugby somewhere. I just can’t see him not being involved. “
Fisher, who was at the Brumbies for 25 years and has coached for 40, said: “I believe I’ve had a positive impact on everyone I’ve worked with and step away from the Brumbies with a great sense of pride, satisfaction, and accomplishment in the work I’ve done.
“It’s now time for others to step in, step up and take the team and organisation forward. I wish them every success.”
While he’ll be sad to see Fisher exit the scene, Alaalatoa was clearly excited by his first session with Jones at the Wallabies’ Gold Coast camp.
“It was good for our boys to get in front of Eddie for the first time. You’re only reading stuff that he says in the media,” Alaalatoa said.
“At the beginning of camp the boys weren’t too sure what to expect. We got stuck in and a lot of belief came from that.
“He had a cattle prod at one of the first team meetings that had the boys on edge. I think that’s just the way he is but it exciting. Definitely we’ve come away from a camp with a lot of belief.
“You got a good understanding of how, as individuals, we need to improve in the Super Rugby games coming up and what we need to take into the first Test in Pretoria.”
He said a message from Brumbies teammate and incumbent Wallabies skipper James Slipper cut through to the players.
“Slips stood up at the beginning of camp and said the most important thing is to waste no time and that continues on post camp.
“It’s about having a good understanding as individuals of how you need to grow what you need to do to be selected for the next camp. We can’t waste any time coming here to the Brums, we’ve got to get the most out of every day and make your gains to give yourself that opportunity.”
Alaalatoa also had a cheeky response when asked about a report that NRL clubs would receive salary cap relief to poach rugby players in response to raids on their talent.
“Someone asked me and I said ‘look if I’m going to go I’m going to play at 6 (five-eighth) and that’s about it’,” he joked.
Unfazed by a 34-point drubbing, the NSW Waratahs have wiped the slate clean and set their sails towards the Super Rugby Pacific quarter-finals.
The Waratahs slumped to 10th on the ladder after Saturday’s 55-21 loss to the Blues at Eden Park.
But without a galaxy of stars after resting key Wallabies including Michael Hooper and others unavailable through injury, Tahs coach Darren Coleman all but wrote off the Blues game even before a ball was kicked.
“There’s no point dwelling on the weekend. It is what it is. It was always going to be a tough game and that’s what it proved,” NSW defence coach Jason Gilmore said on Monday.
“So we’ll get around some of the guys individually but it’s full steam ahead.”
The Waratahs host the Highlanders on Friday night and face home games against the Melbourne Rebels, Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika plus away matches against the Queensland Reds and Crusaders.
Three wins from their last six regular-season fixtures should be enough to clinch a top-eight berth – and Gilmore says there’ll be no excuses if they can’t achieve it.
“It kind of went in two halves. The first part of the season we played the top three teams and we competed pretty well,” Gilmore said.
“We obviously wanted to get a couple more wins but there were some reasonable performances in there.
“The Blues game was always going to be tough with the Wallaby rotations but we’ve got home games now, so we should be ready to go.
“We’ve got our targets that we want to hit in these back six games so we’ll be ready.”
The Waratahs welcome back a host of Wallabies this week, including Hooper and fellow heavy-duty forwards David Porecki, Ned Hanigan and Langi Gleeson.
But even in defeat Gilmore said being able to blood young flanker Hunter Ward in Hooper’s absence against the Blues was priceless development and experience for NSW.
“For Hunter, it was massive,” he said.
“I had a chat with him in the sheds after. He now knows that he can compete at that level. He went toe to toe with one of the biggest forward packs in the competition.
“A couple of counter-ruck turnovers, 14 tackles in the game, that kid can play.
“So for someone like him, I’m sure he’ll bounce in differently today than he has in the past because he knows he’s a Super Rugby player.”
Western Force flanker Ollie Callan is expected to be released from hospital on Monday after being cleared of a severe neck injury.
Callan was rushed to hospital on Saturday night after injuring his neck while making a tackle in the opening minute of the 30-17 win over the Highlanders.
It’s unclear whether the 22-year-old will be able to play again this Super Rugby Pacific season, but he has at least been cleared of serious damage.
“We’re glad the worst-case scenarios have been ruled out and he’s in good spirits,” Force captain Michael Wells told reporters on Monday.
“The boys have made as much contact as we can. We’ve heard from the physio staff that he’s pretty stir crazy in (hospital); he was telling everyone that he’s fine.
“It’s a big relief for everyone, because Ollie is a big part of the team.
“When you see someone go down and get stretchered off, everyone thinks worst-case scenario.
“So it’s nice to know that didn’t happen. I’m pretty sure we’ll be seeing him in the building (on Tuesday) with the neck brace.
“The banter between the boys will start pretty quickly, and Ollie isn’t one to take it lying down either.”
Winger Toni Pulu is set to miss several weeks with concussion, ruling him out of Saturday night’s match against Queensland at Suncorp Stadium.
Pulu’s head slammed into the turf early in last week’s win over the Highlanders, and his history of head knocks means the Force will take a careful approach.
Zach Kibirige (hamstring) is a chance to replace Pulu.
The Force were thumped 71-20 when they faced the Reds in round two, with the heavy loss coming just a week after Simon Cron’s men opened their season with a fighting win over the Rebels.
“It was a skill set versus mindset question for us,” Wells said of the 51-point loss to the Reds.
“We’ve got the skillset, we didn’t perform last time against the Reds because we didn’t have the proper mindset.
“We had a bad training week because guys were complacent, they felt like we’d won a game, we were pretty confident in ourselves.
“It’s taken that reality check, and I’m glad we took it in round two rather than having it now.”
The Force moved from 11th to eighth on the ladder with the win over the Highlanders and can leapfrog the sixth-placed Reds with a win this weekend.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.