Northern Edition

Select Edition

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

Coronavirus scare could curtail Super Rugby AU plans

Ruan Smith. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Queensland prop Ruan Smith may miss the chance to suit up against his former club Melbourne in Saturday’s Super Rugby AU sudden-death final after being sent for a COVID-19 test.

ADVERTISEMENT

Smith played three games for the Rebels before the season shut-down in March but switched to the Reds two weeks ago to join his twin brother JP, and lined up in their win over the Brumbies on Saturday night.

While Ruan can provide the intel on Melbourne, his participation is in doubt as he was excluded from Queensland training after feeling unwell on Monday. He is now waiting for the all-clear.

Video Spacer

Reds prop JP Smith interview – Rebels semifinal

Video Spacer

Reds prop JP Smith interview – Rebels semifinal

His brother JP played down the threat of the virus and said Ruan was still feeling the affects of his first competitive hit-out in almost six months.

“He’s still looking for his lungs on Suncorp Stadium,” JP said on Monday.

“He’s just a bit sore but he’ll be back tomorrow.

“He’ll help the boys and help the team as much as he can around that but he has a lot of respect for the Rebels … the Melbourne staff as the team really meant a lot to him.”

JP Smith is one of the few players left in Australian rugby who has had a taste of Super Rugby finals, part of the Brumbies’ charge to the semi-finals in 2014 and 2015.

He said he would try to teach his young teammates not to get ahead of themselves, with a grand final spot against the Brumbies on September 19 in Canberra beckoning.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Reds are hoping for as many as 15,000 fans to be allowed into Suncorp on Saturday night.

“We need to look at it as another game and just enjoy the moment as it doesn’t come very much,” the South African-born prop said.

“We’re not looking past this week, it’s a grand final for us.”

The Brumbies complained after the Reds match about the scrummaging technique of Reds tighthead Taniela Tupou but JP said they felt the Wallabies prop was in the clear.

“As a team, we need to look past that and we’ll just do what we’ve been doing and leave it in the ref’s hands,” he said.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The ref’s got a job to do, we’ve got a job to do.

“We want to portray a place at the scrum that we do everything right, and we believe we are doing that.”

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

A
AM 7 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Tommy Seymour: ‘I'm just glad I'm not playing now. There's an embarrassment of riches’ Tommy Seymour: ‘I'm just glad I'm not playing now. There's an embarrassment of riches’
Search