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Julian Savea forced into fresh position switch
By Sam Smith
Julian Savea has had to switch position after the Wellington Lions were struck by injury and forced to make a late change.
The Lions face a Round 2 game against Waikato.
Vince Aso has been ruled out of the clash, forcing a reshuffle in the backline. Savea will now move into centre to replace Aso, while Tomasi Alosio gets promoted from the bench to take Savea’s position on the wing. 20-year-old Oriental Rongotai winger Roderick Solo comes onto the bench in line for his potential debut.
Savea, who returned to New Zealand for last season’s NPC, played one game in the midfield in 2020, with this being his first midfield appearance in 2021. After scoring a try in last weekend’s victory, Savea will be looking to make his presence be felt, partnering Hurricane’s teammate Peter Umaga-Jensen in the midfield.
Samoan international Tomasi Alosio will make his first start for the Lions since returning back to the capital this season, with a very prolific Sevens background, Alosio will be a handful for all defenders and will relish his chance to get some big minutes under his belt.
And finally, young winger Roderick Solo will be on the bench, hoping for a Lions debut. Solo was one of the MVP’s at the 2019 Ignite 7s tournament, leading to time with the All Blacks 7s. The former New Zealand School’s representative has battled with knee injuries through his career, coming off surgery only 11 months ago.
The Lions round 2 NPC clash against Waikato kicks off at 2:05pm on Sunday.
WELLINGTON LIONS 23:
Vince Sakaria
Bruce Kauika-Petersen
Alex Fidow
James Blackwell
Dominic Bird
Taine Plumtree
Du’Plessis Kirifi
Keelan Whitman
Richard Judd
Ruben Love
Pepesana Patafilo
Peter Umaga-Jensen
Julian Savea
Tomasi Alosio
Wes Goosen
REPLACEMENTS:
Tyrone Thompson
PJ Sheck
Hoani Tui
Caleb Delaney
Sam Smith
Connor Collins
Brandyn Laursen
Roderick Solo
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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