Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

Caleb Muntz takes positive step in recovery from RWC-ending injury

Caleb Muntz of Fiji passes the ball during the Summer International match between England and Fiji at Twickenham Stadium on August 26, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Caleb Muntz, who helped the Flying Fijians record a historic first win over England before seriously damaging his knee on the eve of the Rugby World Cup in France, is set to return to training this week.

ADVERTISEMENT

Muntz kicked three penalties and three conversions in the 2023 World Cup warmup match as Fiji won 30-22 at Twickenham and was expected to have a key role in France before he was seriously injured in training.

The outside half has been undergoing a long rehabilitation programme with the Fijian Drua and Mick Byrne, who will take over as the Flying Fijians head coach once he has completed the Super Pacific Rugby season with the Drua, has revealed Muntz will return to training for the first time this week.

Video Spacer

Nemani Nadolo on his peak and once being considered “too big”

Former Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo chats to Liam Heagney about when he reached his peak and how he was actually at one stage considered too big to play rugby.

Video Spacer

Nemani Nadolo on his peak and once being considered “too big”

Former Fijian winger Nemani Nadolo chats to Liam Heagney about when he reached his peak and how he was actually at one stage considered too big to play rugby.

That puts Muntz on course to rejoin the national team who face the Barbarians at Twickenham on June 22, the All Blacks on July 20 at the Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego before the Pacific Nations Cup which starts with Fiji’s game against Samoa on August 22.

The former Hamilton Boys’ High School student made his Flying Fijians debut against Tonga and Byrne has been impressed with the player’s recovery and is also ready to consider 20-year-old Drua player Isaiah Armstrong-Ravula.

Byrne told local media: “Muntz has recovered really well. There is always potential for these young players who are always looking to grow our team. The process of developing the Drua was to create the depth of rugby within the professional game.”

In his new Flying Fijians role, Bryne could also be able to call upon Highlanders wing Timoci Tavatavanawai and former England No8 Nathan Hughes who is currently playing for Black Rams in Japan and has expressed his interest in switching countries. Hughes, 32, was born in Lautoko with the last of his 22 England caps being won in 2019 against Scotland.

ADVERTISEMENT

Hughes helped Auckland reach the ITM Cup Final before joining Wasps in 2013 where he qualified for England through the residency rule.

Related

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

f
fl 3 hours ago
‘The problem with this year’s Champions Cup? Too many English clubs’

"Right, so even if they were the 4 worst teams in Champions Cup, you'd still have them back by default?"

I think (i) this would literally never happen, (ii) it technically couldn't quite happen, given at least 1 team would qualify via the challenge cup, so if the actual worst team in the CC qualified it would have to be because they did really well after being knocked down to the challenge cup.

But the 13th-15th teams could qualify and to be fair I didn't think about this as a possibility. I don't think a team should be able to qualify via the Champions Cup if they finish last in their group.


Overall though I like my idea best because my thinking is, each league should get a few qualification spots, and then the rest of the spots should go to the next best teams who have proven an ability to be competitive in the champions cup. The elite French clubs generally make up the bulk of the semi-final spots, but that doesn't (necessarily) mean that the 5th-8th best French clubs would be competitive in a slimmed down champions cup. The CC is always going to be really great competition from the semis onwards, but the issue is that there are some pretty poor showings in the earlier rounds. Reducing the number of teams would help a little bit, but we could improve things further by (i) ensuring that the on-paper "worst" teams in the competition have a track record of performing well in the CC, and (ii) by incentivising teams to prioritise the competition. Teams that have a chance to win the whole thing will always be incentivised to do that, but my system would incentivise teams with no chance of making the final to at least try to win a few group stage matches.


"I'm afraid to say"

Its christmas time; there's no need to be afraid!

119 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave? Will Bristol's daredevil 'Bears-ball' deliver the trophy they crave?
Search