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England fly-half Jacob Umaga extends stay in Italy

Marcus Smith and Jacob Umaga of England walk in the tunnel prior to the Summer International Rugby Union match between England and USA at Twickenham Stadium on July 04, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

Former Wasps fly-half Jacob Umaga has signed a new deal with United Rugby Championship outfit Benetton, keeping him in Italy until 2026.

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The 25-year-old has spent the last year in northern Italy after Wasps went bust in late 2022, initially signing a two-year deal. But after an excellent start to the URC season, where Benetton lie in second place behind Leinster, Umaga has decided to stay for a further two years.

Once touted as Marcus Smith’s rival for the England No10 jersey, Umaga had been out of the Test picture for over a year when he moved to Benetton in 2022, having won his only England cap under Eddie Jones against the United States in July 2021. Staying in Italy will of course keep Umaga out of England consideration due to their current overseas policy.

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    “I am very happy to have extended my contract with Benetton Rugby,” Umaga said (translated on Google). “I feel that the club will have a great future and is going from strength to strength. We have a great team, which also made my decision easy. Thanks to the fans for the support they have given us so far, we appreciate it very much and we hope it will remain so for the rest of the season.”

    Benetton director of rugby Antonio Pavanello added: “Jacob’s renewal represents very important news for the club. In his first season and a half in Treviso, Umaga has demonstrated his value on the pitch. A player with notable technical skills, capable of attacking the opponent’s defensive line in an incisive manner and also equipped with an excellent foot; this last quality is also fundamental in terms of construction.

    “All this has allowed us to create healthy competition with the other department mates, an ambitious condition that we intend to achieve on all roles by having 2-3 senior figures for each of them. By doing so we increase the quality of training and at the same time keep the squad highly competitive throughout the season, managing to deal with possible absences due to injury.”

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    Comments on RugbyPass

    J
    JW 7 minutes ago
    Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

    By “not a big deal”, I mostly meant financially for FFR as, contrary to many other Rugby Unions (most as broke as FFR) who are still making nearly all their money with such big events tickets sale, FFR is not. Using the Stade de France* even when it was sold out or near full capacity (something garanteed for an AB game) was only for the operator to turn on profits. Hence they would survive an AB boycott because not as much was at stake compared to other Unions who are still desperately chasing the biggest crowds as possible in order to survive.

    I’m not sure what this attitude is supposed to depict. Are you saying that FFR don’t do anything for the game in France? Are the women and age teams all taken care of by the clubs too?


    No, no one is going to boycott anybody. It is a matter for WR to sort out with FFR.


    Nar, I’m afraid the problem is now that Galthie has come out and admitted they aren’t trying to fulfil their obligation (exclusion of a premium group), you are stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you had of just keep going the way you were you’d be able to continue (not that that was their aim, these are only short term selection policies) resting the half a dozen that look like they need it. WR have just released new player welfare initiatives, and one section looks directly related to this subject. You know how you guys are providing info on why players aren’t available, that would need to be done in detail to WR, and catch all these examples well outside of the welfare excuse.


    They might allow the FFR to have their own metrics, but it’s hard to see given they’re making their own.

    When you are overstretched and can’t do everything with the means at your disposal, the best way is to rank those tasks and assign your best forces following priorities:

    - WC knock out game

    - 6 Nations Chelem or decider game

    - WC pool game

    - (…)

    - November International

    - July International

    Strongly disagree. Either 6N is at the top alone, or its at the bottom of the list. The worst thing you can do for the French game is only concentrate on beating the same 5 opponents every year. If you’re serious about being a good team you need to target those key internationals against the best teams.


    I know it’s seem tough in the past, but I believe you can do it (so does HammerHead). Takata, you’ve seemed/been the one to talk the most commonsense on the issue, and I’m afraid I don’t believe you’re honestly believe what you just wrote.

    349 Go to comments
    J
    JW 2 hours ago
    Can Les Bleus avoid a Black-wash in New Zealand?

    -last season was a RWC season, which always means more games

    I didn’t look at every (in fact I only looked at NZ lol) body but it actually means less games

    (especially the Munster ones)

    Yes quite noticeable, and that if Leinster and Toulouse are a mirror, didn’t the Toulousian stars still have higher minutes?

    Could Doris’ last longer season have an impact on his injury

    Good question, he had 1383 from 19 through till that point. No idea what his injury was but that’s a good amount of minutes again, his replacement had 5 more URC matches following the injury, you could predict 5-600 more minutes on top (another full load). I’d say yes it could and no it probably didn’t lol

    looked at the ones that had the highest figures. The numbers in the season before and the one after are usually different.

    Yes and it would be very easy to check thanks to that great site (just middle mouse every player). Certainly I noted the ones in Lions are less. Maybe that is planned as they have 5 or so more games yet but could indeed be seasonal. It just too hard to know imo and taking a basic average is enough. I suppose they have 10 more Lions games from the point of that data and if you expect them to share minutes thats 5x1200 added, making a season ending 23 likely totalling 42k minutes, much higher than the previous years.

    If players are tired with no gas, get injured and miss half of the next season, that’s not a good input for a game

    Yeah totally, that is a holistic season to season picture though, we are talking about a single key tour during a 4 WC cycle.

    players from the C team were.. or are injured … so that quite conveniently lowers the bar, while still being unrealistic, as they would not tour anyway

    Yes I have brought up that point myself too, it could have been much different, as it’s only “Unrealistic” judging by the example Galthie set in his selections. Who numbers, maybe he had some theoretical/imaginary marker where he said “if I can get enough players to cross this point, I’ll risk selecting my best available to try and win” but because too many became unavailable he decided it wasn’t worth it/couldn’t reach the quality he thought needed to win, so decide to go development instead.

    349 Go to comments
    T
    TT 3 hours ago
    Jason Ryan unpacks selection changes and their future impact

    AB forward pack solidifying & experimenting nicely. Yes need all combinations, including back ups, tested & solidified asap.


    The backline's down the other end of the spectrum, from 9 back ups to wings is all up in the air. Mainly because to many have been given too many chances to prove themselves for too long, ie while NZ other backline riches languish… or move to Japan, eg the 1 thing that has to be stopped, if it can, is NZ's most powerful centre, & exactly what ABs need, move to Japan, ie Peter Umaga-Jensen.


    Add backline talent like Fakatava, D.McKenzie (permanently), Josh Jacomb, Tavatavanaw, Q.Tupaea, again Peter Umaga-Jensen, Billy Proctor, AJ Lam, Narawa, Tangitau, Naholo


    This is the AB squad & team to win every future test, including the next RWC.


    Order in preference /{1st pick}/ [ONJ=Once Not Injured ] / (back up)


    1 {De Groot} [ONJ - Williams, Tu’ungafasi] Ollie Norris


    2 { Taylor } Taukei’aho [ONJ - Aumua]


    3 {Tosi} [ONJ - Lomax ] (Newell )


    4,5 Locks {[ONJ - S.Barrett], Holland, Tuipulotu }, ( Vaa’i , Antonio Shalfoon, Isaia Walker-Leawere, [ONJ - Oliver Haig] )


    6,7,8 Loose forwards { A.Savea, [ONJ - Lakai, Sititi], Finau, Kirifi } (Christian Lio-Willie, Vaa’i )


    9 {Roigard } Ratima (Fakatava)


    10 {D.McK} B.Barrett (Josh Jacomb)


    12 {Tavatavanawai} Q.Tupaea (Billy Proctor)


    13 { Peter Umaga-Jensen} Billy Proctor (AJ Lam)


    11, 14 { W.Jordan, Narawa } [ONJ - Tangitau, Naholo] (Reece , C.Clarke)


    15 {J.Barrett} B.Barrett (Love)

    2 Go to comments
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