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Foley joins Wallabies overseas exodus

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 12 Februari 2015 | 23.34

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WALLABIES and Waratahs star Bernard Foley has signed a two-year deal to play in Japan after the World Cup but is set to also represent Australia in sevens at the Rio Olympics.

In a major development on the eve of the Super Rugby season, The Daily Telegraph understands Foley has put pen to paper with a top Japanese club and will join them in November after the Wallabies' World Cup campaign.

It is a blow for Australian and NSW rugby but talks with the ARU are understood to be advanced for Foley to not be entirely lost next year.

Foley is negotiating a short-term deal to play for the Australian sevens team at the Olympic Games in Brazil in August, and in the lead-up tournaments.

Bernard Foley is set to play in Japan after the World Cup. Source: Getty Images

The 18-cap Wallaby five-eighth is believed to be then eyeing off a return to Australia in 2017 and a second World Cup in 2019.

The departure of a star player so early in his career will still ring alarm bells in Australian rugby as a Wallaby player drain to cashed-up foreign clubs emerges as a vexing issue.

Foley is in his prime at 25, and famously kicked the winning goal for NSW to win the Super Rugby title last season. He is expected to be Australia's Test No. 10 at the World Cup.

Sources said the ARU, Michael Cheika and Ewen McKenzie before him have worked on engineering a flexible outcome to ensure Foley isn't lost for good.

A former Australian sevens captain, Foley has long held ambition to go to the Olympic Games. And the ARU, which is desperate to unlock government funding with success in Rio, and sevens coach Geraint John were only too happy to make it happen.

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There seems to be a growing acceptance that names like Israel Folau and Michael Hooper are unwilling to give up a whole Super Rugby season to play in Rio, but Foley would be a recruit with both profile and a proven sevens background. He played at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and was called back into the sevens team in 2013 for the World Cup.

Henry Speight and rising Wallaby rookie Sean McMahon are also names linked to Rio.

Though similar in appearance, Foley's deal is not officially one of the "flexible contracts" announced by the ARU in August last year which allow stars to play overseas for one season if they sign a long-term deal with the ARU at the same time.

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But a hidden detail in the fine print of what was dubbed the "Izzy clause" was the provision for a player to go to the sevens in Rio and then play in the Japanese 2016-17 competition and still be eligible for the Wallabies in 2017. The Top 14 season runs from August to March.

Foley has not yet committed to returning to Australia in 2017. The Waratahs, too, have not given up the fight and are still pushing for Foley to be ­allowed to play Super Rugby in 2016.

Sources say the ARU is willing to accommodate Foley's two-season Japanese move not only for the Olympic sevens implications and to encourage his return, but to allow Foley to bank a big Japanese payday and effectively only miss one year in Australia.

Foley said last month he was open to an overseas move.


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Heat’s on Hunt to click on the fly

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KARMICHAEL Hunt's raw playmaking skills must unleash the Fijian strikepower of Samu Kerevi or the injury-rocked Reds will be herded into an ambush by the Brumbies.

If the Reds are to fight fire with fire in the backline, experimental flyhalf Hunt must click with the 104kg stranger beside him in the same way that Brumbies general Matt Toomua is certain to send Wallabies centre Tevita Kuridrani careering into space.

Michael Cheika will ditch his NSW Waratahs persona to be in the Canberra crowd on Friday night as Wallabies coach to scrutinise more than 20 potential World Cup prospects.

New boy Hunt is one of them in the hottest seat of all. This is a new ball game for the code collector at flyhalf with senior Reds backs Quade Cooper (collarbone), James O'Connor (knee) and Anthony Faingaa (knee) sidelined and seven Reds debutants in the 23-man squad, including himself.

Hunt played five seasons with the Gold Coast Suns without ever being the go-to player who was relied upon to make something happen on his 18-man AFL team.

As much as his Reds coaches and teammates talk of "playing a role" being enough from him, all will be desperate for a magic moment or three as six-point underdogs. Based on 113 minutes of trials rugby in five years, that is a huge ask.

Karmichael Hunt must step up at flyhalf for the Reds. Source: News Corp Australia

The Reds had imagined storming Canberra with all their newly-bought weaponry but Hunt is the only bullet in the barrel with O'Connor and former All Blacks backrower Adam Thomson (shoulder) both judged a week away from playing.

Kerevi has been shuffled to inside centre to cover Faingaa's withdrawal. Short balls to get him rumbling are imperative but Hunt must also be savvy enough to snipe through a hole himself if the Brumbies defence drifts too quickly on to Kerevi.

Kerevi, 21, was the cheeky little kid buzzing around church at Brisbane's Acacia Ridge when Kuridrani was growing up in Brisbane with cousin Chris, who will make his Reds debut on the wing tonight.

Hunt was as relaxed as ever on Thursday when accepting that more decision-making and play-sparking now fall on him.

"A little bit more of a load is put back on my shoulders," Hunt said.

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"I'm comfortable with that and I've got Willy (Genia) at halfback as well helping out because I've learnt a lot from him and take advice on the field as well.

"It's exciting. We've got some young raw talent, me included because I've only started this season."

Genia's sniping and generalship are the key to the Reds pulling off an upset should the forwards hammer out good possession to keep Brumbies comeback flanker David Pocock from getting his mitts on Hunt.

Graham is upbeat that Hunt can deliver and his game will expand on his slick 50-minute trial at No. 10 against Dan Carter's Crusaders.

"He's definitely played within himself. There's a lot left in the tank that I haven't even seen yet," Graham said.

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"Karmichael realises he doesn't need to go out there and win the game for us. Like Stephen Donald did for the All Blacks in the World Cup final, he just needs to move us around the field in the right direction."

Graham said a taxing 16-game regular season dictated he be sensible rather than rush stars O'Connor and Thomson, both matchwinners.

"I felt we were rushed with both of them and with another 15 round games to go after this, it'd be foolish to risk them," Graham said.


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Busy Mentor full of energy

Melbourne Vixens' Geva Mentor keeps her eye on the ball in a game against the Sydney Swifts. Source: Gregg Porteous / News Corp Australia

MELBOURNE Vixens MVP Geva Mentor is confident she will be fresh for the start of the season, despite her heavy international workload with England over summer.

The All-Star goal keeper missed a large chunk of the pre-season with the Vixens while she was away on Test duties with the English team in December and January.

Mentor only rejoined her Vixens' teammates in mid-January after almost two months overseas for six Test matches — against Malawi, Wales and Jamaica — and a series of training camps.

While Mentor admitted her body could have done with a bit more rest, she believed her match fitness would benefit from her international commitments.

"Even though it is pre-season and things are a pretty hectic with the Vixens, I can almost now just sit back and take a breath,'' Mentor, 30, said.

"The body survived, I'm in one piece and I'm fit and ready to go.

"I'm happy I've got that behind me and the one good thing is at least I'm match fit and match ready to go.

"Whereas the girls have had a good pre-season behind them, I just sort of kept going.

"My body probably could have done with a bit more rest, but I knew that was the case and I put my hand up to represent my country and fulfil those requirements.

"So it meant that six months was going to be hectic and this six months will be until after the worlds (in August) ... I'm well prepared for that.''

Vixens coach Simone McKinnis has been managing Mentor's training load since her return from England, but the dual championship defender was pleased with her hit-out at last weekend's pre-season tournament in Sydney.

The Vixens will continue their build-up to the season with practice matches against round-one opponents Central Pulse in Wellington today (Friday) and tomorrow.

Goal attack Tegan Caldwell is expected back on court after she missed last weekend's summer shootout as she recovered from an ankle injury.

"We had a really tough training session this week, which included a bit of match play, so Tegan was able to have a good run,'' Mentor said.

"This weekend will be good for her to play a full 60 minutes, particularly at goal attack.''

"We played (Northern) Mystics in a pre-season game in Tassie last year and they were our first-round game and it worked really well for us.

"That New Zealand style of play is very true to how (Pulse) play as a side, so I think it is going to be good for us to face that good strong court zone that they put on.''


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Kruse to go under knife, Jedinak sidelined

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ROBBIE Kruse will have surgery on his injured ankle in the coming days, as the post Asian Cup injury toll continues to plague Socceroos.

Captain Mile Jedinak was ruled out of Crystal Palace's Premier League draw with Newcastle United on Thursday, underlining the pain barrier he went through to last 120 minutes of the 2-1 final win over South Korea.

Russian based right-back Ivan Franjic, who limped off just after Kruse in the final, is still recovering from an adductor strain and still at least a month away.

Robbie Kruse is taken from the field injured during the Asian Cup final. Source: Getty Images

Kruse is the most serious injury, and after conjecture over the severity of the injury, is set to miss the rest of the German Bundesliga season.

The attacker will likely have surgery in Frankfurt and the diagnosis will be at least 12 weeks on the sidelines.

The Kruse injury was thought to be less serious but Bayer Leverkusen ordered him to have surgery after scans revealed that his strained ankle ligaments were severe.

While he did the injury on Socceroos duty, Bayer Leverkusen's medical staff assumed control of the diagnosis in the ensuing days.

Robbie Kruse walks onto the ground after suffering a leg injury during the Asian Cup final. Source: Getty Images

Kruse returned to Germany last week and is understood to be gutted after working so hard to overcome a knee reconstruction to play a key role in Australia's Asian Cup triumph.

"You get different timeframes from everywhere, but I'm expecting it to be fairly long,'' Kruse told the Herald Sun last week.

"I'm waiting to hear from the Bayer Leverkusen docs.

"It looks like I'll be out for a few months, so I'll just have to deal with it.

"I didn't get touched that hard, I just heard a pop and I thought it was the achilles.

"I didn't even know he (Cha Du-Ri) touched me at all.''

Socceroos captain Mile Jedinak is also battling an ankle complaint. Source: Getty Images

Jedinak, who failed a late fitness test before the Newcastle match, said he was still bothered my the ankle he strained in the January 9 win over Kuwait at AAMI Park, which saw him miss the next two games.

Ivan Franjic is another injured Aussie. Source: Getty Images

"After playing so many games in a short space of time I feel OK, there's a slight bit of fatigue so I'm just managing that and seeing when I'll be reintroduced to the squad,'' Jedinak wrote in the Crystal Palace matchday program.

"I picked up an ankle injury in the opening game of the tournament and it's a little bit of a slight issue but we'll try and work through that.

"I've spoken to him (Alan Pardew) a couple of times and we exchanged text messages and well wishes throughout the Asian Cup, but I'm looking forward to getting back down to business in Beckenham and working with him.''


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Hunt hits hard and loves it

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REMEMBER the numberplate. The No. 10 will have flashed by and left the scene of a hit-and-run at Canberra Stadium tonight.

ACT Brumbies fans fancy that flyhalf Matt Toomua will make Karmichael Hunt another victim of his full-frontal hits that make him one of the best defenders in his position in Super Rugby.

Rattle Hunt and ruin the Reds. That's the game plan.

Here's a thought. It might not be the No. 10 you think leaving a mark.

Several of the six Wallabies in the Brumbies backline will be wondering just who hit them if Hunt has reason to put them in his sights.

Hunt has shown promise in many new facets of play coming to rugby but dusting off an old skill is part of what makes him a dangerous package.

He hits hard and loves it. He enjoyed the tackles of a sort he could make in AFL but he just loves the sore shoulders he's feeling again making the decisive hits that peppered his years in rugby league with Brisbane.

New Queensland Reds flyhalf Karmichael Hunt hits hard and decisively in defence. Source: News Corp Australia

A week ago, he smashed All Black Colin Slade to the Ballymore turf.

A week earlier he slammed Rebels winger Dom Shipperley in Cairns in between making two rattling clean-outs.

The Hunt experiment at flyhalf is fascinating but the changing of the guard with this Queensland team en masse should not be downplayed because of it.

Centre-winger Campbell Magnay is on the bench tonight at 18. Young Adam Korczyk, a fair-haired backrower goer from University, and back-up flyhalf Duncan Paia'aua are waiting for a chance too, while 100kg Chris Kuridrani gets a crack in the starting side on the wing.

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Games in the National Rugby Championship have prepared the next wave like Kuridrani far better than if they were treading water in aimless late season training.

The Reds are outsiders tonight.

There is not a lot of deception to the backline make-up but the Reds have never fielded nearly 200kg of running power in the centres before either.

Samu Kerevi and Chris Feauai-Sautia have to play with the authority their size suggests they can.

World Cup year is about to begin. There is nothing surer than the squad you've picked in your mind will be flipped in multiple areas by selection time.

It's high stakes, not just for the Reds but for all the Australian sides.


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Kennedy being eased into fitness

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IT IS "probably" a week too soon for him to start, but Melbourne City coach John van't Schip says Josh Kennedy will play a greater role against Wellington Phoenix on Saturday.

City flies to the New Zealand capital on Friday low on numbers after its mini injury crisis failed to dissipate this week.

Of last week's absentees, only goalkeeper Tando Velaphi is any chance to regain his spot, meaning Erik Paartalu (calf), Rob Wielaert (ankle), Mate Dugandzic (knee), Ben Garuccio (ankle), James Brown (knee) and Jonatan Germano (Achilles) all remain sidelined.

But van't Schip said Australian marquee striker Kennedy had recovered well from his half-hour cameo against Melbourne Victory last Saturday and will be fit to play his second game for City tomorrow as he nears a return to full fitness.

Melbourne City's Josh Kennedy and Ross Archibald put through their paces. Source: News Corp Australia

"Of course it's always difficult coming in to a game when you have to chase the game," van't Schip said.

"We were not really giving him the best opportunities to get in to the game in the way we were playing the last 30 minutes.

"But Josh, personally, is getting stronger every day and it's now just trying to get him playing more and more games. That's something we will try to do, together with Josh, and we'll manage that in a good way.

"Of course it's also important that he starts getting more involved and playing more minutes so we have to build that up."

Melbourne City coach John van't Schip shows his desperation for the ball during training. Source: News Corp Australia

The coach stopped short of declaring Velaphi, who has missed two games with a shoulder injury, a certainty to replace Andrew Redmayne should he be declared fit.

"He hasn't trained for a few weeks at a high level so first we have to see if he progresses today and see his reaction," he said.

"That's something we haven't made a decision about."

Saturday's game is the second in a string of four for City against the A-League's top four sides.

City lost to Victory 3-0 last week and after the Phoenix it will play AAMI Park games against Perth (first) and Adelaide (third).

"It's a massive program," van't Schip said. "But it's also good because we know that if we want to have something to say (in the league this season) then we have to play those teams and we have to get results.

"Wellington is the first one that we have to get a result (against). We are going there to prove that we are a team that can play with the best in the league."


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