RUGBY MATTERS
Canada still favourites but losing Hassler is a blow
THE recent confirmation of the match schedule for the Rugby World Cup repechage tournament in Marseille seems to have sparked a hive of activity for the four nations involved. It really isn’t that far away and the prize is mighty.
The headline grabbing news is that former Bath coach Mike Ford, who has also worked as an assistant with England and Ireland, has been hired by Germany to mastermind their campaign which could result in the most unlikely qualification in the tournament’s history.
Germany – fielding a second team because of a players’ dispute – finished bottom of their European qualifying group but go into the repechage because of the controversial disqualification of Spain and Romania, and the elevation of Russia to automatic Europe 3 qualifiers.
The players are now back on board as is Dr Hans-Peter Wild, the sugar daddy and paymaster of German rugby, and the appointment of Ford certainly signals their determination to seize the day in what looks like a very open and competitive tournament.
“I am delighted that I now have the opportunity to develop such an ambitious team as Germany, and possibly even lead them to a World Cup for the first time,” says Ford who also worked with the British and Irish Lions and Toulon. “Of course it is a big challenge, but that is what makes this task so attractive. I think that this national team has a lot of potential.”
Meanwhile, look out for Kenya who appear to be drafting in most of their experienced Sevens stars for the tournament. Kenya were runners up in the African qualifying tournament and were the only team to seriously inconvience Namibia and could prove a handful in France if they can get the rump of that Sevens squad back into 15s mode for a month or two.
Wing Willy Ambaka made an immediate impact when he unexpectedly became available for the Africa Cup decider against the Namibians, scoring the try of the tournament, and others have been named in the their provisional training squad for the tournament which coach Ian Snook has announced.
Sevens specialists Andrew Amonde, Dennis Ombachi, Samuel Oliech, Biko Adema and Nelson Oyoo are all on board while there is further good news for Kenya with former captain Wilson Kopondo now recovered from injury and No.8 Josh Chisanga – who enjoyed a brief spell at Newcastle Falcons – again available.
Game time together is what Kenya desperately need and Namibia – their conquerors last month – have already showed some African solidarity and stepped in to provide the opposition at the RFUEA Ground in Nairobi on October 28. A game against Portugal the following week in France also seems on the cards and Snook is currently ringing around provincial teams in South Africa to see if they can offer the Kenyans a fixture at short notice early next month.
Hong Kong are probably the dark horses but nobody will be taking them lightly following the way they demolished the Cooks Islands in the Pacific/Asia playoff – a Cook Islands side packed full of decent club players from New Zealand and Australia.
Hong Kong’s pack was especially impressive and coach Leigh Jones will also be pleased with how some of his backs shone in the recent Asian games when they pulled off a first-ever win and gold medal against perennial winners Japan. Quality opposition by way of preparation is also an issue for Hong Kong, who as well as various camps and a warm-up game in France, are still hoping to play a Melbourne Rebels XV next month.
Canada, who have never failed to qualify for the World Cup, start as marginal favourites basically on account of their experience but they endured a miserable qualifying campaign in the Americas which resulted in much soul searching.
They also received a blow recently when former Ospreys wing Jeff Hassler – seemingly at the peak of his powers aged 27 – suddenly quit the game after appearing in their summer internationals. Hassler was two weeks through a trial month with Harlequins when he pulled the plug.
Hassler, named in the PRO14 Dream Team a few years back, departed saying he had other things he wanted to do with his life although he didn’t rule out a comeback altogether.
Wing is actually the one position where Canada have real strength in depth with DTH Van der Merwe (Glasgow) and Taylor Paris (Castres), but Hassler has arguably been one of their best and most consistent players over the last five years and his exit has been unsettling to say the least.