Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Best has been ruled out of Ireland's Australia tour

Ireland captain Rory Best

Ireland captain Rory Best has been ruled out of June’s tour of Australia with a hamstring injury, head coach Joe Schmidt confirmed.

ADVERTISEMENT

Schmidt was speaking at a news conference on Thursday to announce that Best, a veteran of 111 caps who led his side to Six Nations Grand Slam glory this year, would be unavailable for the three-match series.

Munster’s Niall Scannell takes Best’s place in the travelling party, while Johnny Sexton and Peter O’Mahony will share captain duties against the Wallabies.

Ireland face fixtures against Australia on June 9, 16 and 23 next month.

Elsewhere, Ireland fly-half Joey Carbery will swap Leinster for Pro14 rivals Munster next season.

Carbery has made 37 appearances for the Pro14 champions despite largely playing second fiddle to Sexton.

The 22-year-old is part of the Ireland squad for the Australia tour.

ADVERTISEMENT

England XV v France XV | Full Match Replay

South Africa v British & Irish Lions | 1997 | Second Test | The Vaults

"The Opportunity Of A Lifetime" | Wallabies All In: Episode 1

Are these the best ever Lions performances?

Pollock Loses Bill, Players Meet Their Roommates & Training in Portugal | Ep 1: The Ultimate Test

Top 10 inspiring Lions speeches

United States of Rugby | Episode 1 – Welcome to Dawgtown

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

S
Soliloquin 2 hours ago
Fabien Galthie announces France squad to take on the All Blacks

It’s understandable that NZ and other countries relying on their national team for revenue push for highlighting test matches as the biggest thing.

The problem is that it seems like France is being held responsible for other nations’ business model.

The business model hasn’t really changed since 2018, when France last toured NZ. They came as always with a B team, with a rather weak team by international standards back then, as it was the case with France during the 2010s.

Yet still almost all tickets got sold (50000 at Eden Park, 34000 in Wellington and 27000 in Dunedin). The interest was there.

So what has changed between that 2018 tour and the upcoming one?


In my opinion, it seems like the French business model has flourished, with the JIFF policy strenghtening the positions of French talents and less foreign players, the financial health of French clubs dominating the NH, the revigorated national team with what could have been 4 6Nations titles (the 2020 and 2021 were super close) and the emergence of top players in every positions, with arguably the best current rugby player in the world.

On the other hand, Covid has dismantled the financial basis of many federations, the departure of SA franchises from Super Rugby has weakened the competition, NZ are not the reference anymore, SA is dominating the test match competition, with Ireland and France pushing hard, although the Irish seem at a crossroads.


But again, why would it be France’s fault that NZ problems exist?

Is the French team responsible for structural problems in NZ’s rugby?

Nope. But it’s probably easier to blame the French to not give it all in terms of marketing with superstars coming, live on past glory, to cling on the view that until Dupont doesn’t tour SH, he cannot be seen as the best in the world.


Sorry, but most of French fans don’t really know NZ players.

They come in to see the French team against the All Blacks in the Autumn Tests.


And I don’t think anyone in NZ came to see Doumayrou, Parra, Belleau, Teddy Thomas or even Serin or Fickou in 2018. They came for the mighty All Blacks, the Barrett brothers, Savea, Whitelock, Aaron Smith…

38 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Andy Onyeama-Christie: ‘There was a lot of ‘why me?'. I've accepted it now' Andy Onyeama-Christie: ‘There was a lot of ‘why me?'. I've accepted it now'
Search