RWC News: ABs name strong team for Boks clash, Vunipola banned, journo rings alarm bells over key Wallabies

New Zealand have named a strong line-up, including all three Barrett brothers, for their final Rugby World Cup warm-up fixture against South Africa at neutral Twickenham on Friday.

Coach Ian Foster has selected the same backline that helped beat the Springboks 35-20 during the Rugby Championship in Auckland last month.

Changes from that team include Luke Jacobson replacing Shannon Frizell at flanker, Sam Whitelock coming in for Brodie Retallick in the second row and Dane Coles replacing Codie Taylor at hooker.

Foster is keen to give his team a good run ahead of their World Cup opener against France in Paris on September 8, and this presents an excellent opportunity to do so against the old enemy and reigning world champions.

Aaron Smith is at scrumhalf with Richie Mo’unga in the No.10 jersey, and Rieko Ioane making up the midfield pairing with Jordie Barrett. The back three contains wings Mark Telea and Will Jordan, and Beauden Barrett.

Ardie Savea is at No.8 with captain Sam Cane and Jacobson as flankers, the second row is made up of Scott Barrett and Whitelock, while props Tyrel Lomax and Ethan de Groot pack down either side of Coles.

The All Blacks have made an impressive start to 2023, beating Australia twice to go with wins over Argentina and South Africa, a far cry from their wobbles in 2022 which almost cost Foster his job ahead of the World Cup.

Another victory would send them into the tournament with huge momentum.

They have hosts France, Italy, Uruguay and Namibia in Pool A.

New Zealand team: Team: Beauden Barrett, Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane, Jordie Barrett, Mark Telea, Richie Mo’unga, Aaron Smith, Ardie Savea, Sam Cane (capt), Luke Jacobson, Scott Barrett, Sam Whitelock, Tyrel Lomax, Dane Coles, Ethan de Groot. Replacements: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Tamaiti Williams, Fletcher Newell, Josh Lord, Tupou Vaa’i, Dalton Papali’i, Cam Roigard, Anton Lienert-Brown.

Vunipola banned

England’s Rugby World Cup preparations have received a double blow, with No.8 Billy Vunipola joining captain Owen Farrell on the banned list. 

Farrell will miss the first two matches of the tournament, which kicks off in Paris on September 8, after an independent disciplinary hearing upheld his recent red card against Wales, handing the England skipper a four-match suspension.

Vunipola has been banned for three weeks after being sent to the sin bin for a dangerous tackle on Andrew Porter in Saturday’s 29-10 defeat in Dublin.

Billy Vunipola looks on before being shown a yellow card. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

The offence was upgraded to a red by the bunker review system.

That Ireland loss served as the first match of Farrell’s suspension, and the five-eighth will also sit out England’s final warm-up fixture against Fiji this weekend.

He will then miss the Pool D matches against Argentina and Japan.

Farrell faced a second disciplinary panel after World Rugby appealed against the decision to downgrade his red card to yellow for a dangerous tackle on Wales loose-forward Taine Basham during England’s 19-17 warm-up win on August 12.

The judicial committee’s verdict that there were mitigating circumstances in the collision, in which Farrell’s shoulder struck the head of Basham, caused uproar among pundits and former players, as well as player welfare advocates. 

The hearing panel on Tuesday said the committee was “manifestly wrong” in its verdict. 

Vunipola’s ban will be reduced to two games if he undertakes a coaching intervention program, which he is almost certain to do, freeing him up for England’s clash against Japan.

Vunipola is the only specialist No.8 in coach Steve Borthwick’s 33-player World Cup squad.

Scare for Wallabies duo

Former Wallaby turned journalist Peter FitzSimons has reported some injury issues within the Wallabies camp after watching training alongside former All Blacks coach Steve Hansen.

The Sydney Morning Herald writer said he accompanied his “friend” Hansen to Wallabies training on Tuesday where he reported veteran prop James Slipper “sits out a fair part of the session, while winger Andrew Kellaway misses a little training with just a touch of Samkerritis, a calf-strain.”

Kellaway recently returned from a hamstring injury to win his place in the Cup squad. Slipper was battling a knee injury before the Rugby Championship opener against South Africa this season.

Coach Eddie Jones didn’t mention either player in his media update late Tuesday.

“I think Taniela [Tupou] will be available, he’s in full training now,” Jones said.

“Probably Samu (Kerevi) and Josh Kemeny are still a week away from being available to be picked.”

FitzSimons, meanwhile, gave some insight into Jones’ demeanor as the World Cup nears.

“Eddie is, as we know, as intense a bastard as ever lived – and the stories of that intensity are as legion as they are legendary – but on this day, he broadly seems satisfied,” FitzSimons wrote.

“At the end of it, [captain Will Skelton] leads the whole lot of them in something odd. Standing in a circle with their arms around each other, he starts them off clapping in unison, at which point they do a strange manoeuvre with their hands on the ground.”

France set to play stars

France are set to unleash their full strength squad on the Wallabies in Paris on Monday in both teams’ final hit out before the start of the Rugby World Cup.

Although Fabien Galthie and Eddie Jones are yet to name their teams, leading French sports paper L’Equipe has predicted a powerful home line up based on their view of the team in training.

“Barring a surprise, the “Premium” players will be aligned from the start this weekend,” reported L’Equipe. “The high-intensity training carried out on Wednesday in the Landes heat wave will confirm these lessons.”

Galthie will be eager to get game time into his halves pairing of Antoine Dupont and Matthieu Jalibert, who will step up at the tournament following the late injury to Romain Ntamack. France open the tournament against New Zealand in Paris on Sept 9 (AEST).

Antoine Dupont (Photo By Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Jones said Tuesday he was unsure of what to expect from the France selection but he wouldn’t be distracted from the main aim of the game.

“We’re playing France but we might not be playing France,” Jones said Tuesday. “Our aim is to get right for  the World Cup. So whilst we’re certainly not disregarding France, we’re not treating it as purely a training run, our aim is to get right for the World Cup. We’ve got four pool games, which are all going to be important, the first one against Georgia so this is an important  part of our preparations for the Georgia game.”

Jones also gave little insight into his selection policy this week.

“Everything’s about the World Cup. Our target is the World Cup,” Jones said. 

“We’ll be judged on the World Cup so this is an opportunity for us to take another step forward.”

Jones has been happy with how his team is shaping since arriving in France, and gave an insight into his skipper Will Skelton, a surprise choice.

“What we were looking for was a leader. Captaincy is important but more a leader to bring the squad together and Will’s been doing that all his life, so he’s had plenty of practice,” said Jones.

“And you can see every team he’s played in; Saracens, La Rochelle; I was lucky enough to coach a number of the players who played with Will and they couldn’t speak highly enough of what he brought to the team, and we went down to La Rochelle and spoke to Ronan O’Gara about his contribution to the La Rochelle team.

“So he’s been doing what he’s been doing for the last eight years and that’s being himself. He’s not a spokesman, he’s a person who thinks about the players, thinks about what’s best for the players, how can we get them to work hard and enjoy each other’s company, and he’s doing what he’s good at.”

‘We’ll give everything to win’

South Africa are eager to get one over fierce rivals New Zealand at Twickenham on Friday to take momentum into the Rugby World Cup in France, lock Eben Etzebeth said.

The southern hemisphere powerhouses clash in a final warm-up fixture before they cross the English channel, where South Africa will defend the title they won in Japan four years ago.

On that occasion they lost their tournament opener to the All Blacks, but hardened by that battle in Yokohama went on to win their next six games and lift the trophy.

Friendly or not, Etzebeth says there is no way the Boks will drop their intensity on Friday.

“Playing for your country, in one of the best stadiums in the world against South Africa’s biggest rival … it is a Test match, we will give our everything to win,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

“We will worry about the World Cup after Friday. But if it goes well (and they win) it will build confidence.”

New Zealand beat the Boks 35-20 in Auckland during the Rugby Championship last month when they raced into a 17-0 lead early on.

Eben Etzebeth of the Springboks and Allan Alaalatoa of the Wallabies scuffle. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Making sure they do not give them the same early advantage is crucial for South Africa.

“They came with a massive start and we are preparing this week to try and do better,” Etzebeth said.

“We need to improve all aspects. We pride ourselves on our set-piece and our defence, and we want to have a good kicking game and attacking play.

“This is going to be one of the most competitive World Cups ever because there are so many teams putting up their hands to go on and win.”

He also suggests there is no added pressure on the Boks as defending champions.

“Some might say there is added pressure on us and that teams will come for us. But I don’t know if that is the case, I think each team just wants it really badly,” he said.

“They don’t care about us, they just want to win the trophy. If anything we put pressure on ourselves to go out there and win again.”

Ioane makes Italy squad

Prop Marco Riccioni and scrumhalf Stephen Varney have both been included in Italy’s 33-man squad for next month’s World Cup, despite suffering injuries against Ireland in their recent warm-up game.

Coach Kieran Crowley delayed naming his official squad due to injury concerns, as Ange Capuozzo had also been sidelined since February. The full-back made an impressive comeback in Italy’s win over Romania on Saturday, scoring two tries.

English-born pair Paolo Odogwu and Dino Lamb also scored in that 57-7 win and are both included in the final squad.

There is also a place for Monty Ioane who played with the Melbourne Rebels last season before moving back to France with Lyon.

Italy have two sets of brothers in their squad, Niccolo Cannone and his brother Lorenzo, along with the Garbisi siblings, Alessandro and Paolo. The Garbisi brothers started their first game together for Italy in Saturday’s victory.

“It was not easy to arrive at the choice of the 33 athletes called up for the Rugby World Cup and all the players who participated in the preparation worked in the best way.” Crowley said.

Italy lost their warm-up games with both Scotland and Ireland, before the win over Romania. They have one final game before the World Cup.

“We still have a test-match against Japan to present ourselves in France in the best possible conditions and continue to write the history of this group,” the coach added.

There is no history making World Cup call-up for Sergio Parisse. The 39-year-old number eight has appeared at five World Cups to date, but hasn’t played for Italy since 2019.

Italy take on Japan on Saturday, as they complete their preparations for France. At the World Cup, in Pool A, they will kick off against Namibia on September 9.

After that they face Uruguay, before taking on two of the tournament favourites, New Zealand and host nation France.

Forwards: Pietro Ceccarelli, Simone Ferrari, Danilo Fischetti, Ivan Nemer, Marco Riccioni, Federico Zani, Luca Bigi, Epalahame Faiva, Giacomo Nicotera, Niccolo Cannone, Dino Lamb, Federico Ruzza, David Sisi, Lorenzo Cannone, Toa Halafihi, Michele Lamaro, Sebastian Negri, Giovanni Pettinelli, Manuel Zuliani.

Backs: Alessandro Fusco, Alessandro Garbisi, Martin Page-Relo, Stephen Varney, Tommaso Allan, Giacomo Da Re, Paolo Garbisi, Juan Ignacio Brex, Luca Morisi, Pierre Bruno, Ange Capuozzo, Monty Ioane, Paolo Odogwu, Lorenzo Pani.

(With agencies)