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Wallaby Samu Kerevi: ‘I prepare to be the best in the world’

Samu Kerevi trains during a Wallabies training session at Victoria Barracks on October 28, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)

Asked if he could once more be the barnstorming force who was not so long ago seen as one of the very best centres in world rugby, Samu Kerevi did not even get the chance to answer.

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“Yes. 100 per cent,” butted in a stony-faced Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, the Wallabies teammate sitting next to him at their Teddington training base.

It seems his mates have already seen enough. They see a man preparing to be the best in the world again.

Kerevi is now 31, without a Test cap for 13 months, plying his trade out of the spotlight in Japan and surely a bit rusty after playing just one match since May.

Yet he sounds a rejuvenated figure as he’s set to answer the call with Joe Schmidt likely to plough him back into international midfield action against England at Twickenham on Saturday.

“There’s always highs and lows of rugby, and everyone’s got an opinion. And in 2021 everyone thought I was best in the world,” shrugged Kerevi at their headquarters in the London suburbs on Monday just down the road from Twickenham.

“But for me, it won’t affect me the way that people think about me. I know what I think about myself. I know the work I’ve put in, not just these last couple of years, but 11 years now.

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“If I’m selected this week, I’ll be ready to go. If it’s next week or the week after, I’m keen to get on the field and just play some footy.

“Every time I prepare, I prepare to be the best in the world.

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins
3
Draws
0
Wins
2
Average Points scored
29
24
First try wins
40%
Home team wins
40%

“If you didn’t have that mindset you wouldn’t be at this level. And as well as it’s nice to hear (compliments) from other people, I’ve got my own self-drive – that’s all I need.”

A fit-and-firing Kerevi is all Australia need too as they seek to kick off their grand slam tour to the British Isles in style with victory over an England outfit itching to deliver a statement win after seeing a win over the All Blacks slip from their grasp on Saturday.

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The Wallabies all gathered round a TV to watch the match and recognised the quality of a home side that Kerevi dubbed “unreal”.

They know a brutally tough tour opener awaits as they seek to avoid a fourth successive Test defeat after a hat-trick of losses to end the Rugby Championship.

The last time he was in the gold at the World Cup, Kerevi admits: “I wasn’t really happy with how I performed, so I wanted to get the body right (after an injury-plagued build-up) and feel like myself again.”

Now he feels like the real Samu is back and – for all the fuss being made over newbie Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – the real centre of attention for England should be Kerevi, the powerhouse Schmidt is set to turn to in the absence of Hunter Paisami, who’s returned to Brisbane ahead of his child’s birth.

Kerevi promises to let no one down, even while doubters will wonder if he could be properly prepared for the sternest examination after one match in five months.

“I’ve played over 40 caps now at Test level, I know what it feels like to be in that arena and what your body needs to give, but more so the mindset that you need,” he said.

“Since being in Japan, there’s been a lot of conversations like that, it’s always been the same. ‘The Japan league is this, the Japan league is that’ … but internally, I know what it takes to be here at Test level.

“Yes, I haven’t got a lot of game time since last year’s games, and we finished in May this year. I’ve got a trial match under my belt, but I’m just feeling my way back for this week.

“It’s awesome to be back in the squad. I’m grateful for the opportunity to be back. It’s pretty exciting times for the Wallabies.”

Louis Rees-Zammit joins Jim Hamilton for the latest episode of Walk the Talk to discuss his move to the NFL. Watch now on RugbyPass TV

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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