New Zealander Mark Hammett was confirmed as the inaugural coach of Japan’s new Super Rugby team the Sunwolves yesterday, unveiled at a press conference just over two months before the side’s maiden match.
The former All Blacks hooker, who had four seasons in charge at the Wellington Hurricanes, also revealed the Tokyo and Singapore-based team’s 34-man squad for their first season.
The squad contained 15 players with Test experience and 10 of the Japan squad that stunned the rugby world by beating South Africa at the Rugby World Cup and went on to win three games earlier this year.
As well as a majority of players based at Japanese clubs, the playing group also features Argentina loose forward Tomas Leonardi, Riaan Viljoen of the Springboks and former Queensland Reds flanker Eddie Quirk.
The Sunwolves are joining an expanded 18-team Super Rugby competition along with Argentina’s Jaguares and South Africa’s Kings.
Sporting a red and orange strip that was also unveiled yesterday, the first Asian Super Rugby side are to play in one of the South African conferences along with the Bulls, Cheetahs and Stormers.
The announcements might go some way to easing concerns in southern hemisphere rugby union circles about how competitive the Sunwolves would be in their first season with so little time remaining before they take on South Africa’s Lions on Feb. 27.
Hammett coached the Hurricanes from 2011 to last year before he left to become the Cardiff Blues’ director of rugby, but returned home earlier this year for personal reasons.
He was a foundation player for the Canterbury Crusaders in 1996 and played 81 games for the team, winning three Super Rugny titles.
He earned 29 caps for the All Blacks from 1999 until 2003, before a neck injury forced him into retirement.
Eddie Jones, the former Japan coach now with England, was supposed to oversee the Sunwolves’ first season, but announced before the Rugby World Cup that he would be stepping down, citing a lack of ambition at the Japan Rugby Union.
Another former All Blacks forward, Jamie Joseph, is favorite to succeed Jones as Brave Blossoms coach after leading the Otago Highlanders to their first Super Rugby title earlier this year.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS