UNBELIEVABLE DISCOUNTS AT AMAZON.COM ||
With the Wallabies, All Blacks and Springboks heading for marquee matches in the northern hemisphere in the coming weeks, The Roar will be keeping track of what’s making news ahead of the tours.
Kiwi late bloomer set for Scotland debut
Auckland-born Tom Jordan has just turned 26 but only made his first professional appearance two years ago, a couple of seasons after leaving New Zealand to try his luck in Britain.
Since then the flyhalf/inside centre’s rise with Scotland’s Glasgow Warriors has been meteoric and now he’s tipped to come straight into their national team when he qualifies next month.
Jordan, whose career has been shaped by the Covid pandemic, will have satisfied the five-year eligibility rule in time for the Scots’ game against South Africa on November 11 (AEST) with the Wallabies up a week later.
After leaving New Zealand and the Hamilton Old Boys (where he was picked for the Waikato Academy) to join Ayrshire Bulls in 2019, he was noticed by then Glasgow and later Wallabies coach Dave Rennie and invited to train with the Scottish giants.
He signed pro terms with Glasgow in late 2021 but didn’t debut until current head coach Franco Smith took command of the Warriors in 2022.
Earlier this year, Jordan told the Lads Talking Footy podcast that he initially came to Britain intending a short stay but stuck around due to the Covid pandemic.
Tom Jordan of Glasgow Warriors. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
He said playing internationals for Scotland would be “pretty cool.”
“Before I was like, oh, whatever, just see what happens, but I think as I’ve gone on more, and being more consistent with Glasgow, I think it’s definitely something that I can aim for,” Jordan said.
“International rugby would be pretty cool. That’s the top level. Scotland are moving up as one of the top teams. So that would be a pretty cool goal, to play international rugby. To strive towards that would be pretty awesome, and I think if you’ve got that goal, I think a lot of other things take care of themselves.”
The former champion swimmer his professional debut in September 2022, starting at flyhalf away to Benetton in the opening match of the 2022-23 URC season and last year he was the only player to feature in all of Glasgow Warriors’ regular-season matches
His 50th appearance for the club came in memorable fashion, as he started at No.10 in the 2024 URC Grand Final victory over the Vodacom Bulls in Pretoria.
Under Smith, Jordan has developed into an exciting prospect and his club captain and Scotland international Kyle Steyn has backed Jordan to feature in Gregor Townsend’s plans.
“If you are asking anyone from Glasgow then he will be straight in,” Steyn told reporters.
“He’s a top class professional and I really like his mindset and physicality from 10. There’s a lot of value that he can add to the national set-up.
“We all know about the competitive spirit that he’s had for the last two seasons. It took him a while to break into the Glasgow team and we saw that competitive nature, took his chance and ran with it.”
The northern tour will help the Lions decide who they’re bringing to Australia next year, and Steyn believes Aussie-raised Sione Tuipulotu is a banker for the trip.
“Certainly,” Steyn replied when asked if Tuipulotu will be a Lion.
“He’s pulling boys up to his level all around him to his standard at the moment. He’s having such a good impact on the group.
“Everybody can see how he’s going about his business through the week and how that is benefitting him on the weekend. I’m buzzing for him and his family – hopefully that keeps up.”
All Blacks tune up in NPC
While the Wallabies tour hopefuls are set to take part in training camps acorss the country next week, the All Blacks have released 14 players to take part in his weekend’s NPC quarter-finals.
They include halfback TJ Perenara who will play for the Wellington Lions against Counties, giving him at least one more game at his home ground before heading to Japan after the Spring Tour.
Three other All Blacks, Ruben Love, Asafo Aumua and Billy Proctor will join Perenara for the top-seeded Wellington team
Perenara will go head-to-head with Hurricanes and All Blacks teammate Cam Roigard.
England inspired by Alex Ferguson
New England defence coach Joe El-Abd believes the success of Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United football club shows why England could benefit from the recent upheaval in Steve Borthwick’s backroom staff.
El-Abd has taken over from Felix Jones after the Irishman who helped South Africa win the 2019 and 2023 World Cups unexpectedly handed in his resignation in August.
Jones’ desire to leave after just nine months in the job, as well as Aled Walters’ equally sudden exit as head of strength and conditioning the previous month, sent shockwaves through the camp.
Kevin Sinfield, who originally came in with Borthwick from Leicester Tigers as defence coach, was relegated to skills/kicking coach for this year’s Six Nations, and had been announced as departing post the summer’s tour of New Zealand, but is now remaining on.
“Coaching stability is important and it helps,” said El-Abd.
“But I think coaching cohesion is even more important because then if we’re all on the same page, we can question each other hard. What do we do well? What do we not do well?
“I’m looking forward to creating that stability. You see it in football, you see it in rugby – having cohesive coaching teams is important. But does that mean that there are never any changes? No.
“I’m going to use Alex Ferguson as an example. Alex Ferguson stayed for a long time and was pretty successful. He didn’t always have the same coaches. It’s quite rare that they lasted for more than three or four years.
“But he stayed and he knew he had the identity of Manchester United and that’s the most important thing. If we can create that cohesion together as a coaching group, I think that’s only positive to help the players get better.”
El-Abd revealed that England will persist with Jones’ ‘blitz’ defence, although he was keen not to use his predecessor’s terminology for the aggressive system that was bearing fruit on the summer tour to Japan and New Zealand.
The Rugby Football Union insists Jones is contributing to England remotely while he works his 12-month notice period with negotiations over his departure taking place in the background.
“I had a real good chat with Felix, we did it on a video call. He was really, really helpful,” said El-Abd, who was keen to emphasise Sinfield’s influence on the defence before Jones took over.
“The DNA of England rugby is being tough, getting off the line and being a tough forward unit, etc.
“We’re going to take what’s been really good – and there’s been lots that’s really good over the last couple of years, not just in the last eight games – and we’re going to reinforce that.”
Meanwhile, Mark Mapletoft has been named head coach of England A for their fixture against Australia ‘A’ at The Stoop on November 17.
Mapletoft currently oversees the national Under 20’s having spent a decade as part of Harlequins’ backroom staff and will be assisted by Andy Titterrell, Nathan Catt, Lee Blackett and Haydn Thomas.
Smith adamant he should be at 10
Marcus Smith is convinced he should be England’s starting fly-half, despite being used as No.15 for his club Harlequins on the weekend.
He scored two tries from fullback after moving there to cover for several back three injuries.
Smith was moved from No.10 to No.15 from the start of three of England’s matches at last year’s Rugby World Cup.
“I am a flyhalf, that is my position, the one I have grown up enjoying and it is the reason I fell in love with rugby,” said Smith, a reported by the BBC.
“It is a team sport and wherever I am needed, I’m a competitive bloke, so I will fight as hard as I can for the team.
“Sometimes that is going to be at fullback, sometimes it is going to be at 10, but I am still focused on being the best flyhalf I can be and kicking on in that position that I love so much, hopefully for club and country.”
England take on New Zealand on 2 November, before Tests against Australia, South Africa and Japan.
(With PA)
// This is called with the results from from FB.getLoginStatus(). var aslAccessToken = ''; var aslPlatform = ''; function statusChangeCallback(response) { console.log(response); if (response.status === 'connected') { if(response.authResponse && response.authResponse.accessToken && response.authResponse.accessToken != ''){ aslAccessToken = response.authResponse.accessToken; aslPlatform = 'facebook'; tryLoginRegister(aslAccessToken, aslPlatform, ''); }
} else { // The person is not logged into your app or we are unable to tell. console.log('Please log ' + 'into this app.'); } }
function cancelLoginPermissionsPrompt() { document.querySelector("#pm-login-dropdown-options-wrapper__permissions").classList.add('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-register-dropdown-options-wrapper__permissions").classList.add('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-login-dropdown-options-wrapper").classList.remove('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-register-dropdown-options-wrapper").classList.remove('u-d-none'); }
function loginStateSecondChance() { cancelLoginPermissionsPrompt(); FB.login( function(response) {
}, { scope: 'email', auth_type: 'rerequest' } ); }
// This function is called when someone finishes with the Login // Button. See the onlogin handler attached to it in the sample // code below. function checkLoginState() { FB.getLoginStatus(function(response) {
var permissions = null;
FB.api('/me/permissions', { access_token: response.authResponse.accessToken, }, function(response2) { if(response2.data) { permissions = response2.data; } else { permissions = []; }
var emailPermissionGranted = false; for(var x = 0; x < permissions.length; x++) { if(permissions[x].permission === 'email' && permissions[x].status === 'granted') { emailPermissionGranted = true; } } if(emailPermissionGranted) { statusChangeCallback(response); } else { document.querySelector("#pm-login-dropdown-options-wrapper__permissions").classList.remove('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-register-dropdown-options-wrapper__permissions").classList.remove('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-login-dropdown-options-wrapper").classList.add('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-register-dropdown-options-wrapper").classList.add('u-d-none'); } }); }); } window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : 392528701662435, cookie : true, xfbml : true, version : 'v3.3' }); FB.AppEvents.logPageView(); FB.Event.subscribe('auth.login', function(response) { var permissions = null; FB.api('/me/permissions', { access_token: response.authResponse.accessToken, }, function(response2) { if(response2.data) { permissions = response2.data; } else { permissions = []; } var emailPermissionGranted = false; for(var x = 0; x < permissions.length; x++) { if(permissions[x].permission === 'email' && permissions[x].status === 'granted') { emailPermissionGranted = true; } } if(emailPermissionGranted) { statusChangeCallback(response); } else { document.querySelector("#pm-login-dropdown-options-wrapper__permissions").classList.remove('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-register-dropdown-options-wrapper__permissions").classList.remove('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-login-dropdown-options-wrapper").classList.add('u-d-none'); document.querySelector("#pm-register-dropdown-options-wrapper").classList.add('u-d-none'); } }); }); }; (function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));