Autumn eight-nations looks to be moving a step closer
AN autumn eight-nations tournament is set to take a step closer this week when World Rugby’s executive committee hold their delayed meeting to thrash out the remainder of the 2020 international schedule and plans for a global calendar.
Reports surfaced last month with plans being proposed to stage a second Six Nations tournament with the addition of 2019 Rugby World Cup hosts Japan and Fiji as guest countries.
World Rugby’s decision-making council had been scheduled to meet on June 30 to vote on the thorny issue of how many Tests will be played in the autumn, with unions desperate to start boosting their bank accounts, following the financial meltdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
But it was cancelled to give all stakeholders more time to study proposals after English and
French clubs reportedly threatened they will not release players if there is a clash with European and domestic finals scheduled to be played in October.
There was also some discontent over plans to realign the global international calendar that would mean the English Premiership, Guinness PRO14, French Top 14 readjusting their seasons to include summer rugby.
But World Rugby’s executive committee sit for crunch talks about the remainder of the 2020 international calendar with their proposals voted on by the council a week later.
French media outlet Midi Olympique reports the outstanding games from the 2020 Six Nations would be incorporated into the autumn Test schedule, but there’s been ‘fierce’ talks over dates and venues of the remaining games.
THE memory drifts back to a wet and windy day in Lancashire when a confident England Colts team turned up to face Welsh Youth, only to find themselves destroyed by Scott Quinnell-inspired opponents who went on what might be styled as a rugby rampage.
It finished 32-3 to the team in red. Pack leader Quinnell plundered four tries, a Gulliver among Lilliputian opponents. The home players had no answer to his bulk and power.
He went on to deliver at senior international level, but not every promising youngster masters that trick. Plenty find the step from age-grade rugby to the senior ranks too much to handle.
How will Carwyn Tuipulotu fare? A cousin of Taulupe Faletau and Billy and Mako Vunipola, the teenager with the memorable name has been described as one of the most coveted young players in the United Kingdom.
The Scarlets snapped him up as a 16-year-old and increasing numbers at the region believe the 6ft 2in, 19st 10lb No. 8 is on course to prove himself the genuine article.
The weekend before last was a big one for the youngster as he crowned his time at Sedbergh School by winning the John Angus Leybourne Cup, an award for the ‘most special’ pupil in the school.
Sedbergh, who count Will Carling and Will Greenwood as former pupils, is one of the UK’s strongest rugby schools and had gone on a threeyear unbeaten run which only ended when they lost to Millfield before Christmas.
A social media post from the school after Tuipulotu’s award described him as an “outstanding young man who has had a brilliant Sedbergh career”.
The Scarlets are playing the long game with the Wales Under-18s No. 8, nurturing him while attempting to keep the spotlight off him. They are acutely aware of the importance of young players keeping their feet on the terra firma.
Not that Tuipulotu seems the kind to believe in his own publicity.
Pretty much all who know him describe him disciplined, modest and grounded, with an appetite for hard work. His major on-pitch plus point, predictably, is his battering-ram carrying, but he also hits hard in the tackle.
He has also made clear his rugby alignment to Wales, saying earlier this year: “I am very much committed to Wales. I don’t see England or
Tonga as potential options.
“I chose Wales because it feels like home to me and the people are so nice and welcoming.
“My plan is to be involved with the Scarlets A team next season while hopefully playing for a local feeder club. Honestly, I’m so happy that I’ve moved back to Wales.”
On his three famous rugby cousins, he said: “When I was growing up, I remember Billy, Mako and Taulupe as being like my big brothers.
“But when they became professional rugby players, I saw how proud their families were and how much fun they were having.
“I take a lot of inspiration from them. It has inspired and driven me to try to follow in their footsteps because I want to make my family proud and inspire my little cousins too, just as they did for me.
“I am highly motivated and willing to work extremely hard to make it.”
On social media, hundreds favoured the announcement of the youngster winning his Sedbergh award. Harri Deaves, an exceptionally promising Welsh rugby prospect in his own right, called him “one of the best people I’ve met”.
Tuipulotu’s dad, Kati, the ex-Tonga international who played for Dunvant, Neath, Ebbw Vale and Narberth, evidently has much to be proud of, on and off the field.