Rugby Confidential: Wallaby prospect Izaia Perese set to sign with NRL’s Broncos from 2020
RUGBY union is set to lose another young star to the NRL, Waratahs lose $600,000 and sevens player released from jail after rampage. It’s all in Rugby Confidential.
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THE whispered links between boom rugby rookie Izaia Perese and the Brisbane Broncos are now deafening.
We recently revealed that Perese had spoken to the NRL club about a code switch for next year, but given he is contracted to the Queensland Reds he has not been able to get a release.
However, our Brisbane snouts tell us that Perese is all but a done deal to join the Broncos in 2020.
It means the 21-year-old will either be forced to play out the season next year with the Reds, or given an early release.
Perese has told friends he has his heart set on playing in the NRL.
The Broncos want Perese next year, with winger Corey Oates looking at a move to Sydney, and insiders say they’d be willing to pay a release fee to the Reds and Rugby Australia for the Wallaby squad member.
But it seems they’ll also hold out for another year to get their hands on the speedster if he is made to see out his contract.
Perese would be a huge loss for rugby. His power and speed have made him one of the most dynamic outside backs in the country, although he has been dogged by injury during his young career.
HOW 80 MINUTES COST TAHS $600,000
BLOWING the gift-wrapped chance to host a Super Rugby semi-final has cost the Waratahs upwards of $600,000 but the biggest loss won’t be felt in the hip pocket.
The real lost opportunity for the Tahs’ was the chance to try and repair the trust that the general rugby community has lost in the professional game.
NSW Rugby are all too aware of the bad blood that still exists and are working hard to try and mend the fences but know that nothing will bring the fans back quicker than a winning team.
“The community game and the professional game are only starting to once again embrace one another and it’s going to take time to heal a lot of the wounds that were done over the last five or six years when the two were fractured,” NSW Rugby CEO Andrew Hore told Rugby Confidential.
“It’ll take a bit of time, and it’s going to come with a combination of consistency and actually showing that we care.”
The flaky relationship between the Waratahs and their skittish supporters was laid to bare for everyone to see in the last month when a season-high crowd of more than 18,000 turned out to see them spank the Sunwolves but only a tick of 12,000 returned to Allianz when they faced the Highlanders in the first week of finals.
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Hore was expecting big numbers through the turnstiles if the Waratahs had been at home this week but said things also needed to be kept in perspective after they finished 16th last year.
“Home semi-finals can be very positive to any rugby business, so that’s an opportunity that gone by but with that said we live to fight another day,” he said.
“I’d rather be in this position than last year when we limped out after the regular season.
We’re still a work in progress but it’s a process that’s very exciting.”
SAN FRAN RAMPAGE
SAMOAN sevens star Gordon Langkilde has been released from San Francisco’s County Jail but ordered to surrender his passport and remain in the United States to face trial on multiple charges of assault and battery after he allegedly attacked three Welsh players at last weekend’s World Cup.
World Rugby’s biggest party ended on a sour note when Langkilde was arrested at the Samoan team’s hotel and charged with three felonies and a misdemeanour after an incident in the tunnel at AT&T Park which left three Welsh players, Tom Williams, Ben Roach and Luke Morgan, with facial injuries, including a broken nose and a busted cheekbone.
Langkilde spent three nights behind bars before San Francisco Superior Court Judge Stephen Murphy agreed to release him from jail on strict conditions.
Handcuffed and wearing an orange prison sweatsuit, Langkilde pleaded not guilty to the charges and was scheduled to reappear in court next Monday. He has already been provisionally suspended by World Rugby and the Samoan Rugby Union.
FORMER KIWI JOINS AUSSIE SEVENS
MANLY flyer and former Sydney Rays player Josh Turner has signed to the Australian men’s sevens program through to the end of the 2020 Olympic Games.
Kiwi-born Turner played for the New Zealand under-19s team and Counties-Manukau in the ITM Cup before moving to Sydney in 2016.
He joined the Marlins in the Shute Shield and went on to represent the Rays in 2017, but now wants to win gold in Tokyo.
Australia’s sevens coach, Tim Walsh said: “Josh is an amazing young prospect and has shown that he is the type of player we want in the squad.
“He has creativity, speed, agility and a never say die attitude that has seen him rise through the ranks of the Marlins to the Rays and now to the Australian sevens.”
DREW’S BOOZY BROSÉ BRUNCH
DREW Mitchell and Damien Fitzpatrick are among the growing number of Aussie men switching from amber ale to pink wine, with statistics showing males buy nearly half of the rosé bottles sold here.
Both had stints playing rugby in France and acquired the taste of rosé, and to celebrate International Rosé Day, former Wallaby Mitchell will host the “Ultimate Brosé Brunch” on Saturday, August 11 at Easts Rugby Club.
“I lived in France for four years playing for Toulon, and it was during this time I discovered how delicious rosé wine really is,” Mitchell said.
Tahs hooker Fitzpatrick added: “I would certainly call myself a bit of a wine lover and after my time living in France, my appreciation for it grew even more.”
The Brosé Brunch is being run by Tahs sponsors Cellarmasters and money raised will go to Batyr, an organisation that focuses on preventive education for youth mental health.
Tickets are $65 each for canapés and a two-course meal with matching wines, and can be purchased at cellarmasters.com.au/events.
‘100 DAYS OF CHANGE’
GENDER equality has come a long way recently but more awareness needs to be raised, and on Friday a women’s rugby match intends to do just that.
The Women’s Royal Australian Navy rugby team will play their French Navy rivals at 2pm at the Victoria Barracks in Paddington.
It wasn’t too long ago that women could neither play rugby nor fight for their country.
This match forms part of the “100 days for change” campaign raising awareness about gender equality, with this year’s focus on women in sport.
Originally published as Rugby Confidential: Wallaby prospect Izaia Perese set to sign with NRL’s Broncos from 2020
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