Payto & Panda: Bath looking to sign Will Genia; Dave Dennis to be a father

“WILL Genia passes to Sam Burgess”. We could be hearing this in commentary if an audacious bid by English club Bath comes off.

Qld Reds vs The Highlanders, at Suncorp Stadium. Will Genia runs out for his 100th capped game. Pic Jono Searle

IMPENDING fatherhood is dampening some of the anguish Dave Dennis is going through this week, being forced to watch the grand final from the stands after his season-ending injury.

Dennis has opened up on the looming birth of his first child with partner Mo’onia Gerrard, the former Australian netball star, who is due in seven weeks.

“That is special for us, and it does make it a bit easier knowing that we’re going to be parents soon,” Dennis said.

“Before I started playing rugby, I had a great family around me, with all my siblings back home.

“That’s always been my priority, to start my own family, and I’m extremely proud about it.

“I am sure once that day comes, it will be very special.

“I don’t want to feel sorry for myself and dwell on missing the final, but I know [fatherhood] will help to ease the pain.”

But the pain is etched in Dennis’ face when he reflects on the dream that was shattered when he ruptured his ACL a month ago.

“When it happened, I knew,” Dennis said.

“I have spent eight years at the Tahs trying to get to this point, to have it ripped away like that is hard to take.”

Dennis has shown why he is one of the most respected players in the game with his reaction; setting up Denno’s Cafe at the Waratahs’ training base and cooking breakfast for his teammates three mornings a week since his injury.

He’s cooked more than 600 eggs, as well as mixing it up with an impressive repertoire that includes blueberry pancakes, a bacon-and-egg pastry, and Bircher muesli.

Dennis purchased the groceries and was in at 6am on the saucepans, fighting through the pain in his knee from three hours of standing to feed his mates.

Injured Dave Dennis during Waratahs final training session before Super Rugby GF. pic. Phil Hillyard

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SIMON Poidevin has lashed the keyboard warriors who have taken a swipe at Scots College after their 101-0 hammering of Newington in the GPS competition last Saturday.

Blogs have lit up this week with angry claims over Scots’ recruiting policy, while some of the comments have carried outrageously racist undertones.

Poidevin is hardly biased - his three children attend Newington - but he was prompted to call us to clarify some facts.

“I’ve got a very good insight into the Scots rugby program, not only are they great rugby players but they’re fantastic kids,” Poidevin said.

“The program is run by highly ethical and skilled coaches including Wade Kelly [who is also coach of Randwick where Poidevin is a director], but academic progress takes precedence to rugby.

“I personally know a number of these kids, and some of them come from extremely underprivileged backgrounds. It is a great thing for this school to fully develop their lives.

“Scots has the best Indigneous program of any school.

“There is some very bigoted opinions floating around, a disturbing undercurrent in the blogging world that needs to stop.”

For the record, fears that the Newington players would be “scarred for life” from the result were allayed when they returned to school unfazed and already talking about making amends this weekend against Joeys.

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“WILL Genia passes to Sam Burgess”.

We could be hearing this in commentary if an audacious bid by English club Bath comes off.

Having already signed NRL star Burgess, Bath is now in talks with Genia to lure him to England after next year’s World Cup.

Genia, once considered the best halfback in the world, has battled injury this year but there is no doubt that if he can return to full fitness he will be among the top No.9s in the game again, and would therefore be a huge loss to Australian rugby. Watch this space.

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KRISNAN Inu will be joining former Wallaby winger Digby Ioane at French club Stade Francais in what shapes to be a potent backline next season.

The 27-year-old Bulldogs NRL star has signed a two-year deal with the rich club, which used to be coached by Michael Cheika before he quit to join the Waratahs.

With the French Top 14 signing a massive $527 million television deal earlier this year, the threat to the stocks of Australian rugby and rugby league is enormous.

Inu, who won the 2008 World Cup with New Zealand, has the skills to make a successful conversion and is expected to depart for Paris in two months.

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A RUMOUR floating around in Brisbane this week is that James O’Connor has made a prerecorded video announcing his signing for Queensland, which is to be played at the Reds’ gala ball next month.

If the Reds don’t announce it soon, we might die from the suspense.

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SANZAR kicked an own-goal this week, organising a photo opportunity with the opposing captains of the Super Rugby final out at ANZ Stadium.

Given this is the first time Sydney has hosted the final, surely more iconic images would have been taken in front of the Harbour Bridge or Opera House.

NSW wanted to have the photo taken there but the Crusaders didn’t want to move far from their Homebush hotel, forcing Tahs skipper Michael Hooper to catch a taxi out there after his captain’s run training session on Friday.

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THE Telegraph’s winning Super Rugby tipster Samantha Armytage has no doubt who will claim the final on Saturday.

She’s backing the Tahs to claim their first premiership.

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WALLABIES fans in country NSW get the chance to meet their idols next week when coach Ewen McKenzie takes his squad to the bush.

The Bush2Bledisloe tour has been organised by McKenzie to reconnect the national team with its country supporters.

Opportunities to meet the players will be:

Monday in Dubbo at 2:30pm (Dubbo Apex Club’s Caltex Park)

Tuesday in Organge at 3pm (Kinross Wolaroi School, main oval)

Thursday in Bathurst at 3:00pm (Bathurst Bulldogs rugby club)

Friday in Penrith at 3pm (The Mondo, High St).

Originally published as Payto & Panda: Bath looking to sign Will Genia; Dave Dennis to be a father