Rugby Banter Page weekly round up

Monday 9th February:

O’Driscoll Hails Jared Payne as Right Man For Coveted Irish Outside Centre Berth:

Irish legend Brian O'Driscoll has anointed New Zealander Jared Payne as the man to wear the green No 13 jersey at this year's Rugby World Cup.

"For me it was a simple enough pick of going back to Robbie and Jared for Joe," O'Driscoll told newstalk.com of Schmidt's preference for Robbie Henshaw and Jared Payne

"They were the first-choice centres in November. They would have been first choice against Australia having beaten South Africa, but Jared got injured in the last few minutes of that South Africa game.

"Joe obviously decided that he wants to give these two guys a good run.

"He probably wants to … bed down their partnership for the World Cup."

Robshaw Extremely Likely To Lead England at World Cup, Says Lancaster:

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has all but confirmed Chris Robshaw will be his captain at the 2015 World Cup, in an interview with Sky Sports.

Robshaw led England to a stunning 21-16 victory over Wales in their Six Nations opener on Friday.

And Lancaster admitted it would take a “big change of heart" to look elsewhere when the World Cup begins later this year.

Tuesday 10th February:

Akira Ioane Joins Blues:

The Blues have confirmed the signing of Japanese born loose-forward and New Zealand Seven’s representative Akira Ioane.

Ioane, whose father, Eddie, represented Samoa at international level has been hailed as a big prospect by the Blues’ Performance Coach, Isa Nacewa.

“He has been one of most consistent performers in pre-season,” said Nacewa . “He is a big guy but extremely fast and can look forward to a big future in the game.

“He has shown in our pre-season games that he is more than ready to step up.”

Wasps Agree To Loan James Downey from Glasgow For The Remainder of The Season:

James Donwey, 33-year-old hard carrying centre, who joined the Warriors from Munster in the close season but has had his first-team opportunities curtailed due to the presence of Scotland internationals Peter Horne, Alex Dunbar and Mark Bennett. Injuries to Chris Bell and Alapati Leiua mean Wasps boss Dai Young has been looking to bring in a new face on a short-term deal and Downey says he is excited about the prospect of joining an up and coming side such as Wasps.

"I can't wait, it's obviously exciting times here at Wasps and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting some game time," he told the club's official website. "I'm looking forward to playing in front of some of the big crowds. The players here are really positive and have been in great form."

Wednesday 11th February:

Concussions Rose By 59% in Last Season’s Premiership, Report Finds:

The Rugby Football Union plans to recruit former England internationals to pioneer a study into the long-term effects of playing rugby as statistics yesterday revealed that the number of concussions suffered by Premiership players increased by 59  per cent last season.

The England Professional Rugby Injury Surveillance Project, published in collaboration with Premiership Rugby and the Rugby Players’ Association, showed that although the rate of injuries remained stable during the 2013-14 season, the severity of injuries continues to rise in the professional game.

In total 739 injuries were sustained during matches and caused a player to miss training or a game. The average injury caused a player to miss 26 days; in 2002, when the project began, the average severity was 16 days. Meanwhile, training now accounts for a third of all injuries (a total of 414). At any one time during the season the average Premiership club will be without a quarter of their squad. In that context, England missing 12 players for their Six Nations match against Wales was not abnormal

Thursday 12th February:

Bernard Foley to Sign Lucrative Contract with Japanese Club:

Bernard Foley is reported to have signed a two-year deal to play in Japan, with News Corp in Australia understanding the New South Wales Waratahs and Australia fly-half will join a leading Top League club after the Rugby World Cup in November.

News Corp reported that Foley was negotiating a short-term deal to represent Australia in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic, and in the lead-up tournaments, and that the playmaker would look to return to Australia in 2017 in order to be considered for the 2019 World Cup in Japan. News reported, too, that the Waratahs wanted a contract cause whereby Foley could also play Super Rugby in 2016.

Leinster’s Kane Douglas Linked With Return To International Duty With Australia:

Leinster lock Kane Douglas, who arrived in Dublin earlier this season, has been linked with a move back to Australia to help the Wallabies World Cup bid. The second row is in his first season of a three-year contract.

An article in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that a push has begun to lure the second row back with former Wallaby great Simon Poidevin urging the Australian rugby Union to “re-engineer the return of Douglas who has started in 11 of his 16 games for Leinster.”

Re-engineer refers to the current Australia Rugby Union (ARU) policy of not selecting overseas players for their national squad. Prior to his arrival at Leinster, Douglas played with Australia and the Waratahs, Michael Cheika’s club side before he was promoted to the position of Australian coach.

Friday 13th February:

McCaw Linked With Switch To Ambitious Pau:

Speculation continues to mount around Richie McCaw's future after this year's Rugby World Cup, with ambitious French club Pau the latest to be linked to the All Blacks skipper.

French rugby media are reporting a comment from former national coach Bernard Laporte, now in charge at big-spending Toulon, that he is aware of a deal in front of McCaw from the high-flying second division club, set to join the Top 14 in 2016.

Pau have already snapped up veteran All Blacks centre Conrad Smith - a close friend of McCaw's - to join them once he completes his commitments at this year's World Cup in England, and according to Laporte Pau are not content to stop at one illustrious New Zealand international.