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Wallabies star Marika Koroibete re-commits to Rugby Australia

Marika Koroibete. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

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Melbourne’s World Cup winger Marika Koroibete has signed a new two-year deal with the Rebels and Rugby Australia.

The explosive code-hopper, who switched from the NRL to rugby in 2017, made it clear his future lay in the 15-man game and said it was an easy call.

“I am really enjoying my rugby, so it was an easy decision to stay with a club that gave me a chance to play the game,” said Koroibete, ahead of the Wallabies World Cup opener against Fiji in Japan on Saturday.

“My family and I are very happy in Melbourne and we have support at the Rebels that is not taken for granted.

“I still have a lot that I want to achieve in rugby and after the World Cup I am excited to get back to the Rebels and do our best to play Super Rugby finals in 2020.”

Making his test debut in 2017 after switching from the Melbourne Storm, Koroibete has been one of Australian rugby’s biggest improvers over the last 12 months.

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Rebels boss Baden Stephenson said he expected Koroibete to continue to make his mark in the next two seasons.

“Marika is a hard working, robust and explosive player who is very well suited to our game style,” Stephenson said.

“His commitment to continue in Melbourne is a massive statement of belief in the quality of the program and people at our club.”

Koroibete will start on his left wing in tomorrow’s Word Cup opener in Sapporo against his native Fiji, in what will be his first appearance at the game’s showpiece event.

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Flankly 2 hours 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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