Perhaps encouraged by Eddie Jones’ cattle-prod stunt at Wallabies camp, Suliasi Vunvialu has put pen to paper on a new deal through to the end of 2025.
As first reported by The Roar two months ago, Vunivalu has agreed a two-year extension. He had already added one year onto his first contract after leaving the NRL, for this season.
Signed on a huge two-year deal worth upwards of $700,000, Vunivalu took a significant pay reduction to sign that one-year $300,000 extension for this year’s World Cup season ahead of last year’s three-match series against England.
While hampered by injury at the start of his return to rugby union, he has had better luck this season and was named in Eddie Jones’ first camp squad in April.
Vunivalu won two premierships with Melbourne in 2017 and 2020, scoring a 86 tries in 111 games in the NRL. He has 15 in 26 Super Rugby games.
Vunivalu said ins a statement: “I’m enjoying my time in Rugby.
“I’ve learned plenty with the Reds and Wallabies and know there’s a long way to go If I want to achieve my goals.
“We’ve got a great group of players and staff at Ballymore. I’m enjoying working alongside them every day.
“It’s an exciting year for the Wallabies with the World Cup. I’m doing everything I can to be a part of it after the Super Rugby season.”
Jones famously took a cattle-prod to Wallabies camp to shake up Vunivalu. The coach said on Wednesday: “Suli has the potential to be a Test match winner.”
“I’m really pleased how he’s been progressing through Super Rugby and even happier that he’s committed his future to Queensland and the Wallabies.”
Reds General Manager – Professional Rugby Sam Cordingley added: “We’ve been impressed with Suli’s progress over the last three seasons. He is a really popular member of the group.”
“He is improving game by game and has plenty more to offer for the Reds and Wallabies.
“We’re looking forward to seeing him continue and push for higher honours over the next two seasons.”
Frizell cleared of blame in Vest incident
SANZAAR has issued Harry Wilson a warning after the Queensland Reds star hit out at referee Brendon Pickerill on Monday.
The Wallabies and Reds back-rower slammed SANZAAR’s decision not to come down hard on the Highlanders, after lock Connor Vest broke his neck following a tackle gone wrong during his side’s 35-30 loss.
Vest fell into a tackle in the 30th minute and copped Shannon Frizell’s shoulder to the back of his neck. It came as Highlanders hooker Andrew Makalio chopped Vest’s legs as the Reds lock’s body height dropped significantly as he stumbled into contact.
Vest lay prone on the ground immediately and was treated by medical staff, with the game stopping soon after. The 29-year-old was treated for a couple of minutes before walking off unassisted.
On Wednesday afternoon, following days of criticism from the Reds after the incident was left uncharged along with another high shot to James O’Connor in the 11th minute, SANZAAR hit back and warned Wilson for his comments while also backing Pickerill and the judicary system.
“The review has found that at no stage did the Match Referee, Brendon Pickerill, attempt to hurry the review of the injury or the removal of the Player from the field,” a SANZAAR statement read.
“The comments attributed to Harry Wilson of the Reds in the media are factually incorrect and whilst they may have been well intending in support of a teammate, he has been issued with a reminder that care must be taken with public comments not to impair the public confidence in the integrity of match officials.
“Super Rugby Pacific Match Officials will always provide sufficient time for the treatment of injuries in consultation with Team and Match Day Medical staff to ensure that the appropriate level of care is able to be provided on any occasion. In regards to this incident, at no time was the referee made aware of the seriousness of the players injury or the need for more time or precautions.”
NZ media organisation Stuff had earlier reported officials were “seething and dumbfounded” at the comments Wilson, who had claimed referee Pickerill was “disrespectful” in his treatment of his teammate.
Vest suffered a fractured neck when he came into contact with Frizell’s shoulder and the incident went unpunished by the referee and TMO Glenn Newman.
Wilson said the Reds expected Frizell to be sanctioned for the no-arms tackle.
“For us as a playing group we hope so because rugby’s been really big on the player welfare and there wasn’t much player welfare there with a no-arms tackle to the head,” Wilson told reporters on Monday.
Connor Vest of the Reds charges forward during the round 14 Super Rugby Pacific match between Highlanders and Queensland Reds. (Photo by Joe Allison/Getty Images)
“Vesty’s broke his neck and, for me, that’s pretty ridiculous.
“On top of that, as a playing group, we were very frustrated with the referee trying to rush him off the field. We thought it was pretty disrespectful for a player, who had just broken his neck to be told to get off the field as if he’s trying to waste time. That was something as a playing group we weren’t too happy with.”
Canes get new coach
All Blacks Sevens coach Clark Laidlaw is the new coach of the Hurricanes.
Laidlaw replaces Jason Holland, who will be an assistant coach to Scott Robertson with the All Blacks.
Laidlaw, 45, has been in charge of the All Blacks Sevens since 2018, achieving gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, silver at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, gold at the Rugby World Cup sevens in 2018 and World Rugby Sevens titles in 2020 and this year.
He will take up the Hurricanes job after the Super Rugby Pacific season ends.
Former Bok stabbed in farm attack
Former South African rugby player Lukas van Biljon was stabbed repeatedly and his father was shot three times when attacked on their farm.
The controversial former Springboks hooker was allegedly warned if he fought back his children – who were tied up – would be killed, according to the Daily Mail.
The 47-year-old played 13 times for the Springboks but was dropped in 2003 after a nightclub brawl. His family was attacked by six men at the family farm in Oranjeville, Free State Province, South Africa.
His 70-year-old father, Andre, had tried to make a call to fellow farmers for help on a radio but was spotted and was shot three times in the chest and hand and is in a critical condition in hospital.
Lukas van Bijon was stabbed in the chest three times.
ojp44
Roar Rookie
Yes, thats true Paulo; we see evidence of that each week. My recent fave was the poster who was outraged about lack of commentators calling out forward pass and knock on (amongst other outrages) in Highlanders vs Reds... they posted under video clip of the incident which clearly included the commentators calling out the forward pass and the knock on..... :rugby: Perhaps the pool of outraged would shrink a bit with more explanation from refs etc, but there would still be a pool. As a final aside, NBA put out a 'last 2 min report' where they explain calls / non calls and they do actually admit mistakes in that report. Of course, there was an NBA ref who did time in prison for rigging games in the 00's ... he actually was cheating :shocked:
Jez North
Roar Rookie
First sentence of my original post was a poor comment Locke. Sorry it was aimed at the administration, certainly not the players or their fans
Fats
Roar Rookie
Aha...the smoke has cleared and the mirrors have gone up revealing the true nature of Australian Super Rugby players and their poor supporters. They are hard done by those danged he-men from across the ditch. In a world that is becoming increasingly "woke" they should grow some "kahunas", come out of the "closet" and declare themselves "transgender". They could then enter competitions where they can be more competitive and maybe? even win more games...their poor supporters would be in a more sympathetic environment where their moans and groans of outrageous fortune will add to the chorus of outrage!!!. LOL
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Completely agree perception is the issue. However those unhappy about a decision will still be unhappy regardless of whether they see the process or not. We have complete transparency of on field reviews in real time and people still claim integrity issues because they don’t like the decision. Seeing the process will make no difference to those people.
ojp44
Roar Rookie
Thats fair enough Jez North; and I agree that Sanzar response was poor.
ojp44
Roar Rookie
Thats not too bad OO.
ojp44
Roar Rookie
I think its about trying to address the public perception.
Just call me Campo
Roar Rookie
very interesting, mate.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Totally agree, OO hasn’t condemned this ref for the Vest incident. My use of pro-nouns was sloppy. I just think it’s an issue of competency within the whole process, not just the refs, rather than referee integrity. Introducing the integrity angle just muddies the water even further.
Passit2me
Roar Rookie
Paulo, I don’t think OO ever condemned the ref for the Vest incident did he? OO focussed on the statement “comments not to impair the public confidence in the integrity of match officials”. then gave a case where the ref showed a low level of integrity by low fiving the Fijian player after scoring a try against Australia, which affects public perception (I know it certainly affected my opinion of O’Keefe). He took a statement from from this article and tested it against a separate incident.
Locke
Roar Rookie
Historically every race and culture has practiced conquest as a normal part of life. The Shona were a Bantu people originally from west central Africa and expropriated the land of Zimbabwe from the original Khoikhoi inhabitants. Was the Shona's conquest shameful as well? Or do you just apply a different set of moral judgements to European conquerors?
whistleblower (retired)
Roar Rookie
I don't think Wilson is the sharpest knife in the draw; it shows in how he plays.
Locke
Roar Rookie
'He’s just frustrated because another Kiwi ref whistled his team off the park..' Corrected for you; He's frustrated because his team keep being beaten by better Kiwi teams, so he scapegoats the refs in a rather pathetic attempt to avoid responsibility for his team's shortcomings.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
No, you’ve missed my point. I’m not excusing the low five or trying to justify it. It’s irrelevant to the question I asked. I asked why you have so easily rolled out the ‘refs miss illegal contact all the time’, when I asked about Australia benefiting from it. But yet the same standard hasn’t been applied to this incident with Vest?
KiwiHaydn
Roar Rookie
I get it, but who’s to say the tradie isn’t an indigenous Zimbabwean?
tuohyred
Roar Rookie
how, why - Voice vote in Oz exposing historical wrongs NZ like Makarata is part solution. ZA is big on their Hugenot "Christianity" - where is restitution as part of process of forgiveness
Jez North
Roar Rookie
Yeah I definitely agree with your comment but Sanzar’s reaction was poor imo. One of those players clearly committed an offence and they refused to acknowledge even that. This against a backdrop of dismissing the QRU’s concerns to the point they had to lodge a complaint to a higher authority than SANZAR.
Objective Observer
Roar Rookie
If you asked a fan from any country, they could come up with a dozen or more of these judgment call errors in games that go against their side. They are common place. I am not saying these are evidence of bias or necessarily incompetence, a rugby game is fast with lots of contacts and moving parts. The “low five” is special. Can you give me 4 examples of behaviour like the “low five” in rugby test matches? I doubt you can give me 1. I don’t think Refs can demand protection of their integrity when they don’t show the public that they demand and enforce integrity themselves.
Brendan NH Fan
Roar Rookie
Negri for Italy had to leave in the middle of the night with just to clothes on his back and that was it, never able to go back. Its why he is a proud Italian as his Dad was Italian.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Sualii certainly has more promoise than Vunavalu does but thats only because we have now seen what Vunivalu does. I think Sualii will be a good player but the price tag will haunt him and RA for some time. Even if he is the next big thing he is still a 1.6mil $ man and that wont sit well with plenty of other players. Imagine being Jorgenson and being offered 600k a season yet out performing the 1.6 mil man. Hopefully they are now getting Vunivalu at a better price but, like you, I struggle to see his value.