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Newly appointed defence coach Phil Blake has wasted no time making his mark at Ballymore ahead of the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season.Blake brings experience at Test and Super Rugby level with the Wallabies and Western Force respectively, while the 59-year-old has spent the last six-years of his career coaching with Wasps and Leicester in the English Premiership.Like head coach Brad Thorn, Blake also played topflight rugby league, representing a number of clubs in the NRL and Super League as well as New South Wales in State of Origin.He’ll work with Thorn and fellow assistants Jim McKay, Mick Heenan and Kane Hames in what is a balanced and skilled coaching group in Queensland.Blake’s range of experience means he’ll implement a well-rounded, in-depth defensive system at Ballymore, a task he’s enjoying as pre-season ramps up.“Defence is all about mentality, all about attitude,” Blake said.“Although it wasn’t my forte as a player, I understood defences, I understood what they were trying to nullify from an attacking point of view.“I think I’ve got a really good understanding of how we want to defend, and again it’s up to me and the players to deliver that come Super Rugby.”After his time in the UK, the attacking nature of Super Rugby Pacific presents a new challenge for Blake, who recently spent time with Manly in the Shute Shield.It’s a vast difference to the English Premiership, where Blake tested his whares with two heavyweight clubs in Wasps and Leicester.“The Premiership is a hard slog,” he said.“It’s a different game, a lot of close-quarters contact over there, very set-piece orientated and more kicking focussed than Super Rugby.“Here with the conditions, with the teams, with the mindsets, we like to play with the ball.“Our mindset in Australia, even from when you’re a kid playing in the park, it’s to score tries, play with width and utilise your individual skillsets.”Now settled into his new surrounds, Blake is relishing working with the Reds squad and has already instilled his defensive ideologies on the group.Blake started his processes in Japan, touring with the team to as the Reds took on their sister-state club the Saitama Panasonic Wild Knights.“Having spent some time with the squad in Japan was invaluable, we worked on a few things and had some success there from a defensive point of view,” Blake said.“One thing they’ll find is I really enjoy this part of the game, and I’m hellbent on delivering it. With that comes a lot of excitement and a lot of expectations on the players.“You’ll probably see a little bit of difference in the defence next season.”Queensland kick off their season at Queensland Country Bank Stadium against the Hurricanes on Saturday 25 February. Join the #RedsFamily with a 2023 membership! Buy now via https://bit.ly/3UP1YDJ.Click Here: st kilda saints guernsey 2019

Glasgow Warriors and Scotland winger Rufus McLean has been suspended by his club after pleading guilty to domestic abuse charges.

The 22-year-old faced charges at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Wednesday, and his rugby career could be decided later in the week.

McLean suspended

A Warriors statement read: “Rufus McLean is suspended from all club activity and is unavailable for selection following a guilty plea to charges under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 in December 2022.

“Glasgow Warriors does not condone abuse of any kind and therefore, along with Scottish Rugby, immediately suspended the player following his plea.

“An internal investigation has been instigated and a disciplinary hearing will be held this week.

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“Legal proceedings in this matter are not concluded therefore no further comment will be made at this time.”

McLean was born in the United States and has made 26 appearances for Glasgow. He has three Test caps for Scotland after debuting against Tonga in October 2021, scoring twice in the match.

Waratahs and Wallabies centre Izaia Perese has opened up on his road to recovery, pushing to be right for the start of the Super Rugby Pacific season.Perese suffered a ruptured patella tendon during the Wallabies' second Test against England in July, ending his season prematurely.CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR EARLY BIRD AND HOSPITALITY TICKETS FOR THE HSBC SYDNEY SEVENSThe 25-year-old began running at the start of the month, moving on to change of direction work before the Waratahs head on leave.Perese was candid about the recovery process, keeping a positive outlook on the journey and refusing to let any setbacks affect him mentally.He has plenty of company in rehab after a brutal season gutted the Waratahs, which has allowed the electric centre to find the 'fun' in the process.“I think not thinking about too much is key,” Perese admitted to Rugby.com.au.“There are two ways about it and I think it’s all about the people you have around you. We’ve had a great rehab group with the likes of Will Harrison, Lachlan Swinton, and Angus Bell from the start. It’s just me and HJH (Harry Johnson-Holmes) now.“It’s a great rehab group that not only gets the job done but we keep things around the joint light-hearted and have a good humour around everything.“It definitely doesn’t feel like five months, it feels like it's gone by (quick) because we’ve been having a lot of fun."…I’m taking it day-by-day because sometimes you can sit back and come in and something will happen and they say ‘we’ll pull you back from all this today' and that sets it back. I’m taking it week-by-week but I still have Round One as a goal.”Perese watched from the sidelines as several Waratahs teammates got their chance to shine for the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship and Spring Tour.This includes centre Lalakai Foketi, who built off last year's brief Wallabies cameo with several strong performances in the 12 jersey before succumbing to a shin injury.“I love it. It hits different when you train, play and compete against the boys and all of a sudden you’re in the same (national) team as them," Perese said on their rise.“When you are watching them play, it’s a different emotion, you want to get out there and play beside them but seeing their growth is outstanding.“Knowing Lal (Foketi) personally, he’s such a great bloke and a love him as a bloke. It’s great to see that stuff and it makes me really proud.”With this comes greater expectations for the Waratahs in 2023, with CEO Paul Doorn and coach Darren Coleman echoing top-four as the goal when they opened their Centre of Excellence last week.However, Perese isn't feeling the pressure, rather backing the extensive preparation done by the team to help take them to the next level.“I feel like there’s always pressure regardless it is a winless season or whether we’re out to make a statement for 2023," he added.“In saying that, I don’t feel the pressure at the moment because I feel we’re working so damn hard now that the preparation that we’re doing now is going to set us up for a good season ahead.“As all good teams start to flourish, you have to be together prior to the three years. Right now, we’ve been together for the past two years and now is a good (time) to take off, we really have no excuses to fall back on except to work hard for each other.“We have to have the confidence in our preparation to go out and perform for those 80 minutes. I feel like it’s harder to get the prep right than to go out and perform because if you have the prep right, you can fall back on that in those pressure moments.”Click Here: sydney roosters jersey

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter is gearing up to lose some more of his long-term stars due to limitations caused by the salary cap.

The exodus has already begun, with Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds set to move to Montpellier next season.

Departures

Meanwhile, loose forward Dave Ewers confirmed his move to Ulster this week in another departure. England star Jack Nowell is also expected to leave the club at the end of the season with his future up in the air.

“We’ve got some big challenges from the decision we made two or three years ago to keep the guys on full salary,” Baxter told BBC Sport.

“That was always going to cause us problems when they came off contract because they’re all contracted on salaries that were at the £6.4m cap.

“The reality is now when you come off contract it’s a £5m cap.”

The majority of Exeter’s historic side that won the Champions Cup and Premiership double in 2020 would have left by next season.

Baxter is still behind his decision to re-sign most of the group but now has to deal with the impacts of the salary cap.

However, the director of rugby feels the decision to keep the team together was the right one bearing in mind the success the club had.

“I spoke to the board three years ago when we re-signed the group pretty much en-masse for either two or three years, that it would be a real challenge for us to keep that quality of squad beyond the length of those contracts because of age, experience, what they’d achieved and the changing in the cap,” he added.

“It’s not something by doing that you couldn’t have known was coming, but we took that choice and kept that squad together and won a Heineken Cup.

“There was a choice to be made then, and we made that choice, and now we are now in the process of what we’re going through.

“But at this stage we’ve qualified for the last 16 of the Heineken Cup, we’re fifth in the Premiership, we’re going through a process, but the players are still buying in.”

Different stages of a career

Baxter believes most of the players leaving are at a stage in their career where they may be looking for new challenges.

“Most of these guys leaving have played international rugby here and have won trophies, and they’re either over 30 or getting to 30 and there’s the opportunity to try something else before their careers end,” Baxter said.

“Some of it’s linked to money, some of it’s linked to opportunity, some of it’s linked to new experiences.

“We’ve got a big group coming to that stage of their career, and I’ve said to every one of them individually I don’t hold any grudges, I don’t hold anything about it, I can understand where they are in their careers, that’s where it is.

“We haven’t tried to make it difficult for them, we haven’t tried to be awkward about it, because the hardest things I’ve had to do in my career is let players who wanted to stay, ask them to leave because we’ve moved on.

“People don’t see that side of it, they see these guys going and think it’s a one-way street.

“But when we let a player go who’s got older but has played 100s of games for us they say ‘well he’s older now and he’s dropped out of the first team, it’s the right thing to do’, when it’s a current player it feels weird.

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“But these guys have got their reasons, and they’re not wrong reasons, I’m not sitting here saying ‘this is feeling bad’ because of an internal issue, it doesn’t feel like that.

“We’ve got challenges, but we’re dealing with them, it’s not an issue some people would try and make it out to be.”

As reported by Foot Mercato, OGC Nice have made Lyon midfielder Houssem Aouar their main transfer target to strengthen their midfield during the final week of the summer window.

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Aouar has long seen varied interest over a move away from Lyon after he turned down a €50m move to Arsenal two summers ago but concrete offers have rarely materialised. However, the 24-year-old was close to joining newly-promoted Premier League side Nottingham Forest who still haven’t completely given up Aouar with the move “on stand-by” after talks fell apart. Leicester City were also pushing to sign the France international this summer as were Real Betis.

Despite being Nice coach Lucien Favre’s priority, the Swiss has asked his club to do all they can to sign Aouar, Les Aiglons’ approach will be tough to see through with OL keen not to sell the player to a direct rival despite him having just one year left on his Lyon contract. Aouar has been indecisive over his future this summer and was reportedly waiting for Premier League interest with OL’s €15m valuation a 75% decrease on their 2020 demands.

According to Santi Aouna OGC Nice attacker Amine Gouiri and his entourage prefers a move to Rennes over a return to former club Lyon. The French journalist reports that  Lyon’s interest in Gouiri is not reciprocated by the player. Gouiri reportedly wasn’t happy with how the club treated him before his departure having never had a chance to shine for OL.

The 22-year-old attacker left Lyon in 2020 having struggled for game time after graduating from the club’s academy but OL are keen to undo what many fans saw as a mistake, especially considering a thrilling first season and a half for the Frenchman at Nice. However, it would have been a costly move for OL with Nice demanding €30m to allow the player to leave the Allianz Riviera despite reportedly frosty relations with new coach Lucien Favre.

Gouiri has many offers with Rennes (a club which Aouna reports would be more favourable for Gouiri and his entourage)  in talks with Nice over an audacious player trade involving their striker Gaëtan Laborde while the player and his entourage are investigating a move to the Premier League with English clubs sounded out in recent days.

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Fly-half Johnny Sexton has announced that he will be fit for the start of the Six Nations, providing a huge boost for Ireland head coach Andy Farrell.

The playmaker suffered a broken cheekbone on New Year’s Day when he collided with Connacht’s Jarrad Butler.

Sexton had surgery to correct the issue but missed the Irish province’s Champions Cup victories over Gloucester and Racing 92.

There were concerns that he would be absent for Ireland’s Six Nations opener against Wales, but the 37-year-old has allayed those fears.

The Masked Sexton

“(I’m) good to go; I was training last week, just had a funny face mask on,” he said.

“Keep that on this week in training and it comes off next week, so good to go next week.

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“At the time the European games were at the forefront of my mind. When you figure out you’re not going to be able to play in them, the Six Nations then (comes to mind).

“But from early doors, the surgeon and the doctor they were fine and just said it’s probably the best injury to have on your face, so that was nice to know!

“If you could pick one bone, pick that one.”

Sexton is undoubtedly the country’s first choice fly-half, with either Ross Byrne or Jack Crowley stepping in should the Ireland centurion not be available.

Crowley and Byrne have got in over Munster’s first choice pivot Joey Carbery, who was a surprise omission from Farrell’s initial squad named last Thursday.

Good form

“I understand it (the reaction) because it’s not as though he’s been playing poorly, his form has been pretty good,” the head coach said of Carbery.

“But there’s been a bit of feedback, like we do with a lot of players who didn’t make the squad, and Joey understands that.

“Ross Byrne has been getting feedback for the last couple of years and couldn’t get in the room.

“He’s improved on things we’ve been asking of him, so he gets the chance to see whether he can convert to the international stage, he’s earned the right to be able to do that

“And 100 per cent Joey will be working away hard to get back in.

“Everyone has some improvement in them; Johnny is top of the tree as far as his career is concerned but he’ll be the first to tell you he’s got things to work on, so everyone has.

“It’s a great place for us to be. A little bit of depth, a little bit of competition, people fighting to be part of this Irish squad.”

Owen Farrell could miss England's Six Nations opener against Scotland next month after being cited for a dangerous tackle during Saracens' 19-16 Premiership win over Gloucester.The Saracens fly-half, 31, is in line to start for England in Steve Borthwick's first game in charge, against Scotland at Twickenham on February 4.CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR EARLY BIRD AND HOSPITALITY TICKETS FOR THE HSBC SYDNEY SEVENSBut he could be sidelined following what appeared to be a high, shoulder-led charge on Gloucester replacement Jack Clement near the end of a tense encounter at Kingsholm on Friday, where Farrell landed a winning drop-goal with the last kick of the game.A statement issued Monday by England's governing Rugby Football Union on Monday said Farrell had been cited for "dangerous tackling".He will now face a disciplinary hearing at 1830 GMT on Tuesday.Match referee Karl Dickson took no on-field action against Farrell, after what appeared to be a miscommunication with the T|V match official. But citing commissioner James Hall has ruled Farrell, appointed England captain by former coach Eddie Jones, does have a case to answer after the stand-off's shoulder made contact with Clement's chin.Mid-range dangerous tackles, including contact to the head, come with a six-week ban, which can be halved with a good disciplinary record. Suspensions can also be reduced if offenders agree to undergo a course in improving their tackling technique.Farrell was banned for five games in 2020 following a high tackle on Wasps player Charlie Atkinson, and questions about his technique have been raised before, notably when he escaped sanction for a shoulder charge on South Africa's Andre Esterhuizen at Twickenham in 2018.Punishments for suspensions incurred at domestic level in rugby union can also be applied to international matches.Farrell's hearing created another headache for Borthwick, among the crowd at Kingsholm, following injuries to back-row Tom Curry and hooker Luke Cowan-Dickie.  Asked about the Clement incident, Saracens rugby director Mark McCall said after the match: "I was pitchside for the last three or four minutes, so I haven't seen it yet."I have heard there is a potential high tackle that I will have to look at."Gloucester coach George Skivington said: "It is really tricky to comment on it. I don't want to end up in a judiciary myself, so I have to keep shtum. I will just say that consistency across games will be good."Click Here: Edinson Cavani jersey sale

Dave Rennie is looking for Reds duo James O'Connor and Suliasi Vunivalu to push their way into contention via Super Rugby as the Wallabies begin preparations for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.Rennie has assembled a 44-player squad on the Gold Coast for the week, with the high-profile backs the major omissions.CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR EARLY BIRD AND HOSPITALITY TICKETS FOR THE HSBC SYDNEY SEVENS“It’s the advantage of a lot of injuries I guess, we’ve used a lot of players last year and there’s more competition for places now which is really good," he told reporters“We’ve got a couple of guys who would normally be in Japan recovering from long term injuries so it’s nice to have Quade and Samu in here.“…It’s a massive year, it’s exciting. We’re going to light a fire over the next couple of days and work hard that we head up north in the best possible condition to play our best footy over the last four years.”O'Connor was one of five flyhalves selected to start in 2022, however, found himself dropped from the squad altogether after a thumping defeat in Argentina.An ankle injury ended his season early, with Rennie impressed with how the 32-year-old has applied himself to rehab.“I had a good chat to ‘Rabs’ prior to us announcing the team," he revealed. "He’s come back from injury, back training fully and actually in really good nick running quicker than we’ve seen over the past couple of years.“He looks sharper so his focus is playing good Super Rugby and putting pressure on us to select him in the camp in April. That’s the message we’ve given to a number of fringe players."As for Vunivalu, Rennie pointed to the importance of providing the repeat efforts that have helped the likes of Nark Nawaqanitawase break out at Test level.“Suli has got really clear messages,” he explained. “We need to see him run fast. We need to see him open up and repeat of speed efforts. We know his ability aerially is excellent. He needs to put in good performances at Super (Rugby) level. He had a couple of runs with Australia A and needs to build on it."What we saw from Mark Nawaqanitawase is a man who’s equally good (as Vunivalu) aerially, but is good all over the park. His speed and repeat speed was excellent as was his post-tackle work and his defensive work“He grabbed his opportunity and played the best three games of his life at Test level. The challenge for him now is to make sure that he comes in and wants to be better. That’s the message he’ll get over the next couple of days.”The Wallabies boss also confirmed Taniela Tupou was unlikely to feature in Super Rugby Pacific, with the priority maximising his game-time heading into the Rugby Championship.“We’ll take over his recovery. He’ll still have a role to play at the Reds but not on the playing field," Rennie added.“…The first avenue (for his return) will be club Rugby, which I’m sure will excite Brothers. We plan on having a couple of Australia A games potentially. We’re just looking for the chance to get some footy into him.“Hopefully he recovers a little quicker and he can play the back end of Super Rugby.”Click Here: Virgil van Dijk Jersey Sale

As reported by L’Équipe, PSG are plotting a late transfer window swoop for Valencia’s Spanish midfielder Carlos Soler.

The 25-year-old Spain international (nine caps, three goals) has just one year left on his current contract at Valencia and his availability this summer is considered a major market opportunity by the Paris club. PSG see the player as more of a creator than an organising midfielder and he would be part of the midfield rotation within the squad say the sports daily.

Talks have already opened over a move with the transfer window closing on Thursday, just two days from now, but the PSG leadership are hoping to close the deal very quickly. A transfer fee of just over €15m is being discussed between the parties.

The central midfielder has played 225 senior games for the La Liga outfit having graduated from the club’s youth system. In that time he’s provided 36 goals and 31 assists across all competitions.

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