Monday Afternoon Round Up

Smith facing 3 months out

According to reports in France, Toulon flanker Juan Smith could be ruled out for up to three month after suffering biceps injury in his side’s defeat to Brive on Saturday.

The former Springbok looks to be out of Toulon’s opening Champions Cup matches in the coming months, as well as some parts of the French season.

Garrett joins Scarlets on loan

Newport Gwent Dragons can today confirm that loose head prop Luke Garrett is to go on loan to the Scarlets with immediate effect.

Garrett, who has represented Wales U20s in the Junior World Championships in 2015, made his debut for the Men of Gwent during Judgement Day in April 2015 against Scarlets. He also played his part in the Newport Gwent Dragons’ Premiership Select side during last seasons British and Irish Cup campaign.

The 21-year-old, originally from Tredegar, will remain West Wales Region until 31st December 2016 to fill the injury gap.

Cavaliers without captain Ryan Nell for remainder of season

The Boland Cavaliers will be without their captain Ryan Nell for the remainder of the 2016 Currie Cup season.

Nell sustained a fracture in the lower part of his leg this past Friday, during Boland’s 25-22 win over the Steval Pumas at the Boland Stadium in Wellington. He will be out of action for at least 2 months.

Western Province injury report

Western Province hooker Scarra Ntubeni will undergo surgery on his torn Achilles tendon on Wednesday

Ntubeni suffered the injury in the 34-27 victory against the Sharks at Newlands, and has consequently been ruled out for between six and nine months.

Sikhumbuzo Notshe also injured his ankle at Newlands and has been ruled out for the next three to four weeks after seeing a specialist, whilst his fellow loose forwards Rynhardt Elstadt and Nizaam Carr both return to training this week.

Centre Huw Jones will not be available for the clash against the Golden Lions in Johannesburg on Friday, due to a hamstring strain which kept him out of the clash with the Sharks.

Prop Oli Kebble has a hip flexor injury, but could be available before the end of the season, along with outside back Khanyo Ngcukana (neck injury) and flyhalf Jean-Luc du Plessis (ankle injury)

Lealiifano offered coaching role

Wallaby Christian Lealiifano, who was released from a Canberra hospital last week with leukaemia, could join the Brumbies coaching staff next year if illness puts his playing career on hold, the club has said.

"If Christian can’t play we’d certainly love him to do a bit of the coaching stuff and potentially with the back line,” Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham commented.

“He’s got some long-term plans to go into coaching so we may dabble with that. But we have to wait and see what happens and how he recovers."

The 28-year-old has finished an initial round of chemotherapy and was allowed to spend time at home with his family and friends in the past week.

He has played 19 Tests for Australia and 117 Super Rugby games for the Brumbies.

Lancaster joins Leinster backroom staff

Leinster Rugby have this morning confirmed the appointment of Stuart Lancaster to the senior coaching team with the following statement. 

Speaking to leinsterrugby.ie Leinster Rugby Head Coach Leo Cullen said, "The sad departure of Kurt McQuilkin due to family reasons has brought about an opportunity to bring in somebody new to the Leinster Rugby coaching team.
 
"Stuart brings a wealth of experience and is a highly respected figure in world rugby. We are all looking forward to having Stuart join our team and together helping the players maximise their potential as a group.”
 
Leinster Rugby CEO Mick Dawson confirmed that former England head coach Lancaster would join the Leinster Rugby coaching team as a Senior Coach with immediate effect until the end of the season.

Lancaster, 46, is a former Leeds Tykes player and played representative rugby with Scotland at age grade level. Having been forced to retire due to injury at the age of 30, the qualified teacher moved into coaching and had roles with the Leeds Academy and Leeds Carnegie before being appointed as the RFU's Head of Elite Player Development in 2008 which included coaching the England Saxons.
 
He was appointed to the role of England head coach in 2011 and led the team through four 6 Nations campaigns and a Rugby World Cup in 2015.
 
Since leaving his position with the English team in 2015, Lancaster has had short term roles with the Atlanta Falcons, with British Cycling's world-class performance programme, with the English FA and most recently with Counties Manukau in the Mitre 10 Cup in New Zealand.

Wallabies squad for SA & Argentina Tests

Wallabies Head Coach Michael Cheika has named a 33-man squad for the upcoming Tests against South Africa and Argentina in Brisbane and Perth respectively.

Having already had seven debutants in 2016, Cheika has named a further four uncapped players in the squad with Kyle Godwin, Lopeti Timani, Tom Robertson and Naivalu all looking to pull on the Gold jersey for the first time.

Henry Speight is back in the fold after travelling to Rio de Janeiro as part Australia’s rugby sevens Olympic campaign, while Sefa Naivalu will train with the team ahead of becoming eligible for the Wallabies on September 18.

Matt Giteau, Matt Toomua, Rob Horne and Ben McCalman were not considered for the squad because of injury.

See 33-man squad here