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Toulon ready to cut their losses on All Black Milner-Skudder - reports

Nehe Milner-Skudder runs through exercises during an All Blacks gym session (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Reports in France on Wednesday suggest that 2015 World Cup winner Nehe Milner-Skudder might never arrive in Toulon to take up the three-year contract agreed on last December.

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French sports daily L’Equipe are reporting that the 28-year-old, who was ruled out of All Blacks selection for the 2019 World Cup after a shoulder injury prevented him playing any Super Rugby match for the Hurricanes, could now be surplus to requirement. 

It was December 13 last year when Toulon made a big show after securing the signatures of Eben Etzebeth and Milner-Skudder for the 2019/2020 season. 

Fresh from his World Cup-winning exploits with the Springboks, Etzebeth is due to arrive in Toulon before the end of the year and honour his three-year deal. 

However, the arrival of Milner-Skudder, who has not played any rugby since November 3 last year, is now in jeopardy due to shoulder complications. 

(Continue reading below…)

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It appears that the injured player’s contract has not yet been approved by the French League. Before this happens, he must have a medical examination and it appears this might not happen due to his shoulder problems. 

If the release of the contracted Milner-Skudder is confirmed, it will leave Toulon in a position to utilise the freed-up budget to chase down a replacement, namely Saracens and Wales’ Liam Williams. 

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He is expected to be a casualty of any shake-up at Saracens in the wake of their salary cap saga. However, L’Equipe added that Toulon won’t have it easy capturing Williams’ signature as the player has allegedly been courted by numerous other clubs in France. 

WATCH: Wales’ decision to play Jonathan Davies against the All Blacks is now under scrutiny

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Flankly 1 hour ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

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