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Greg Growden
February 25, 2011
Claims "absurd" ... Brumbies head coach is not offside with senior Brumbies or his staff says his boss. Photo: Graham Tidy
ACT officials have rejected claims of rifts within the Brumbies ranks, revolving around head coach Andy Friend's differences with several players and his coaching staff. R&M has been told of dramas within Brumbyland, including Friend's struggling to gain the full support of his players and support staff. One suggestion was that Friend was head coach in name only, and he had only restricted contact with players. ACT chief executive Andrew Fagan yesterday strongly denied there was rebellion in the ranks. ''With a new coaching staff coming on board, we have been shuffling some things around here, which is under Andy's direction,'' Fagan said. ''But no, there has been nothing as drastic as what the rumour mill appears to have presented. What these whispers could be related to is Andy's changing role, given that he was previously the attack coach. Stephen Larkham is now the attack coach, but he's only been with us full-time for four weeks. So the nature of Andy's role has evolved. And there's some things we have tinkered with over the last couple of weeks to make sure there is no double-up of messages.'' Fagan said Friend was ''very much the head coach''. ''He will continue to select the team, drop blokes, pick blokes, and will be down on the field with a whistle in his mouth,'' Fagan said. ''He will still deliver messages to the team. But we have sought to make changes, given that we have all of these technical coaches, so that when we talk about attack that we don't have three different people all delivering a message, slightly differently. We don't want people stepping on each other's toes.'' Fagan said claims that Friend had only limited contact with some players was ''absurd''' For the record, the Brumbies coaching staff is Friend (head coach), Larkham (attack coach), Justin Harrison (forwards coach), Tony Rea (defence coach) and Marco Caputo (scrum coach).
CEO COUNTDOWN
John O'Neill's reappointment as Australian Rugby Union chief executive until the end of 2013 has annoyed his detractors. The anti-O'Neill faction, which includes agitators who regularly throw grenades from Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney, can at least gain some relief from the virtual certainty someone else will be in charge at the ARU from 2014. As O'Neill told R&M: ''We've got a tough year this year. It will get a bit better in 2012, and then a lot of what we're doing will come to fruition when we have the British and Irish Lions tour here in 2013. I'll be 62 then, and I think that will see me out.''
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REBELS RUCTIONS
Melbourne rugby types like carrying on about how they're from the top end of town, but a section of the crowd at the Rebels opening match last Friday night were hardly top shelf. According to our sideline snout, the ''bogan element'' took delight at hurling racist remarks at several Waratahs players, while NSW hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau had to dodge a glass of beer hurled at him. And it will be interesting to observe how the Rebels, who go on and on about image, handle the latest drama involving their star signing Danny Cipriani, who is alleged to have been involved in a nightclub incident following the Waratahs loss. Before this kerfuffle, R&M was told of disciplinary issues involving Cipriani since he arrived in Melbourne from the United Kingdom. Already many Melburnians are asking: Will Cipriani last the season?
KURTLEY IS UNIQUE
A good trivia question. Who is Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale named after? In tomorrow night's Waratahs-Reds match program, Beale explains that his late grandfather named him after West Indian pace bowler Curtly Ambrose. In the interview Beale was asked whether it was true that on his passport, his first name was spelt with a C. ''Yes it was, but I've changed that,'' the 22-year-old said. ''I don't think anyone else in the world has the same first name as it's spelt now.''
LIVING WITH CF
Western Force hooker Nathan Charles has cystic fibrosis, and recently became a national ambassador for Cystic Fibrosis Australia to promote awareness of the ailment. In the latest issue of the Australian Rugby Players Association newsletter, Charles explained that he was from an early age ''encouraged to play every sport there was and that was the smartest thing, getting me moving all the time''. ''CF does not affect the way I live my life,'' he wrote. ''I just have to be cautious. I can have a good time. If I want to have a beer with the boys I can.''
THE RUMOURS
❏ Who recently backed his vehicle into a pole in the ARU headquarters car park?
❏ Who is the respected provincial coach expected to ''pull the pin'' within six weeks?
❏ The Rebels players have apparently nicknamed one of their high profile teammates ''Google''. This followed the player telling a bouncer outside a Melbourne nightclub: ''Don't you know who I am? Google me and find out.''
http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/un...224-1b78m.html
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Originally Posted by palitu
