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Australian ad tempts fate by going after England rugby fans

Taniela Tupou sits down for tea with some stereotypical England fans.

Australia has once again sought to stir the pot ahead of England’s three Test series against the Wallabies in July – with Stan Sport taking a good natured pop at English rugby fans.

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This time Wallabies tighthead Taniela Tupou is the star who’s kicked the hornet’s nest.

Tupou gatecrashes a fictional afternoon tea for England Rugby touring party, with the sun burnt England fans depicted as snooty, upper crust sorts who stick their noses up at their uncouth Australian hosts.

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Will Skelton on Champions Cup celebrations and playing for the Barbarians | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 38

The big rig Will Skelton joins us from Monaco this week where he’s on tour with the Barbarians and rooming with George Kruis. He fills us in on the tour so far, hanging out at the palace with the Prince and who’s leading the charge off the pitch. We also hear about his man-of-the-match performance for La Rochelle in the Champions Cup Final, that famous open-top bus celebration and what it’s like playing for coaches like O’Gara and Cheika.

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Will Skelton on Champions Cup celebrations and playing for the Barbarians | RugbyPass Offload | Episode 38

The big rig Will Skelton joins us from Monaco this week where he’s on tour with the Barbarians and rooming with George Kruis. He fills us in on the tour so far, hanging out at the palace with the Prince and who’s leading the charge off the pitch. We also hear about his man-of-the-match performance for La Rochelle in the Champions Cup Final, that famous open-top bus celebration and what it’s like playing for coaches like O’Gara and Cheika.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely here but the beer is just too cold,” says one fan, while another observes “The tea… it’s too weak!”

The 130kg Wallaby rudely interupts proceedings and befriends his new found and quite shocked England friends over a pot of tea.

 

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A post shared by Taniela Tupou (@taniela_2pou)

It’s a fun skit, but a brave one considering the context of recent results on Australian soil.

Nor is it the first time a broadcaster has tried to poke the bear ahead of a tour, with Fox Sport’s releasing brave forecast for the series in which the Australian rugby pundits mocked England and their chances againsst the Wallabies.

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That time it back fired terribly, with Eddie Jones’ England going on to record a three -nothing whitewash of his native country.

England will travel to Australia for their three Test series after playing the Barbarians today in Twickenham. They will play Australia in Perth (2 July), Brisbane (9 July) and Sydney (16 July).

Meanwhile, the Wallabies went into camp on Thursday in Queensland to start preparations for the series.

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Former NRL star Suliasi Vunivalu is one of four newcomers included in a 35-man Wallabies squad ahead of next month’s home three-Test series against England. After overcoming persistent hamstring injuries, highly-regarded winger Vunivalu forced his way in with strong Super Rugby Pacific performances for the Queensland Reds.

additional reporting AAP

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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