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Rebels cult hero to sign for Ealing Trailfinders

Richard Hardwick of the Rebels passes during the round 11 Super Rugby Pacific match between the Melbourne Rebels and the Moana Pasifika at AAMI Park on April 30, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Melbourne Rebels ‘cult hero’ Richard Hardwick is the latest big name to be snapped up by monied Championship outfit Ealing Trailfinders.

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The flanker, 29, was one of the standout players for the Rebels in Super Rugby Pacific 2023, scoring five tries in 10 games as well as cementing his reputation as a turnover king. Only two players could better his tally of 19 turnovers won.

Hardwick won two Wallabies caps in 2017 but has since become a dual international having also been capped by his native Namibia against Canada in November 2022.

Namibia have yet to announce their Rugby World Cup 2023 training squad but as one of the Welwitschias’ most-talented players, his inclusion would seem certain pending the terms of his contract at Ealing.

His signing is another statement of intent from Ealing who refuse to slip quietly away into the shadows despite having their ambitions stymied by the RFU and Premiership Rugby.

This summer, former England international Billy Twelvetrees has moved across from Gloucester along with Aussie back-rower Jordy Reid in a deal that reputedly matched his Cherry and Whites wages.

Having Reid, who was a real fans’ favourite in his first spell at Ealing, in the same back row as Hardwick will make Ben Ward’s team an even more formidable force at the breakdown next season.

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Prop Lewis Boyce, from Bath, is another Premiership player heading to Vallis Way from the West Country, while other notable signings include Cardiff stalwart, scrum-half Lloyd Williams.

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Ealing finished runners-up to Jersey Reds in last year’s RFU Championship but will be hellbent on putting that right in 2023/24, especially with the squad that they have assembled.

Given the outlay on player wages, one of the club’s next priorities must surely be to ensure their 5,000-capacity ground ticks all the right boxes when the club is audited for promotion.

The Mike Gooley-bankrolled team were denied promotion when they won the Championship in 2022 because their ground fell short of the minimum standards criteria and they would have been blocked again this year even if they had finished top for a second consecutive season.

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Comments

1 Comment
M
MT 771 days ago

Brilliant player. Was best player for the Rebels this year. Will do well in Ealing.

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J
JW 55 minutes ago
'The Wallabies only have themselves to blame': How the Lions sunk Australia in Melbourne

Cameron Woki picked at the base of a ruck and jumped/dived over. That would clearly now be penalised.

But the Sheehan try is different to my eye. It starts from a tap penalty, he drives forward, the two WB defenders go low for a tackle in the assumption Sheehan will go to ground. He does not, but seeing the hole now left dives through it. In this case surely there is zero danger there.

World Rugby’s terminology/interpretation recently (shared again after this) is that it’s ok to hurdle/dive (that includes over, say a ruck, which we have seen this many times even in this years SR) to score a try, but it’s not (OK) to avoid a tackle. I can’t remember the one you describe (which may have been where their clarification came from) but that would sound OK. Sheehan definitely was playing the rope-a-dope and dived to avoid being tackled (can’t call it tackled really, just blocked/stopped lol), so shouldn’t have been awarded (I wasn’t aware of this last definition so just thought it was a very smart move). Was it premeditated? I’m not sure, but he could definitely have collected someones head if that was the case. And I guess even if he saw the space, I guess it’s not something they can allow as others might try it and get it terribly wrong?


Well summed up Miz. I have been thinking the whole situation of events that lead to this type of sneaky move is the problem, particularly as it relates to the difficulty and effort defenders now go to stop such situations (like say Slippers try), where players go extremely low to drive from meters out (and in most cases plays just trying to dive under). It’s also ugly business seeing attempt after attempt to go in under the tacklers, especially with them not really being able to perform a ‘tackle’ at all. I would simply give the defenders their goal line. All they need is some part of the body on or behind, and this will stop the play (being the fuel to this fire) from being attempted I reckon.

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