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'My instinct was it was fatal' - coach describes brutal one-punch attack on Stannard
By Online Editors
An emotional Andy Friend has spoken to the media about Thursday's one-punch attack on skipper James Stannard.
The head coach said that his instinct was that the 'coward punch' attack on the Austrailian Sevens captain in the early hours of the morning was a fatal one.
Stannard was due to lead his country in the upcoming Gold Coast Games on home soil, but was hospitalised after allegedly being punched in the head in the Sydney suburbs in the early hours of Friday morning.
Stannard is believed to be making a good recovery following the assault that left him with a fractured skull and is hoping to leave hospital tomorrow.
He will however now miss the Commonwealth Games
The 35-year-old was recently appointed as Australia sevens skipper following an injury sustained by Lewis Holland.
“It would’ve been James’ third Commonwealth Games said Rugby Australia high performance manager Ben Whitaker.
“He’s an extremely important member of our team both on-field and off-field and the team will have to show again that we’re a very resilient team to get through this to support James a) to get healthy and b) to work their way towards gold at the Comm Games.”
Stannard was due to retire this season and Whitaker said it remains to be seen whether he will play again.
“We don’t know that at this stage. We know that right now he needs some time to heal,” added Whitaker.
“He’s not available for the Commonwealth Games and that’s obviously a massive disappointment for all of us and James and his family and then once that’s sorted, we’ll look at how he can return to play.”
Cult-figure Stannard became the leading Australian points scorer in World Series history when he overtook Peter Miller's tally of 631 in Wellington in January 2016. Stannard was a member of the Australian side that won a Silver medal at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India and captained the side that won the London Sevens at Twickenham in the same year.
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Latest Comments
Agree with Wilson B- at best. And that is down to skilled individual players who know how to play the game - not a cohesive squad who know their roles and game plan. For those who claim that takes time to develop, the process is to keep the game plan simple at first and add layers as the squad gels and settles in to the new systems. Lack of progress against the rush D, lack of penetration and innovation in the mid-field, basic skill errors and loose forwards coming second in most big games all still evident in game 14 of the season. Hard to see significant measureable progress.
Go to commentsKeep telling yourself that. The time for a fresh broom is at the beginning - not some "balanced, incremental" (i.e. status quo) transition. All teams establish the way forward at the beginning. This coaching group lacked ideas and courage and the players showed it on the pitch. Backs are only average. Forwards are unbalanced and show good set piece but no domination in traditional AB open play. Unfortunately, Foster - Mark 2. You may be happy with those performances and have some belief in some "cunning plan" but I don't see any evidence of it. Rassie is miles ahead and increasing the gap.
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