After a week of turmoil involving a star player and speculation over his own future, Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has recalled Christian Leali’ifano to fill a void in the Wallabies’ midfield created by injuries and Kurtley Beale’s suspension for the Bledisloe Cup Test against New Zealand on Saturday.
Matt Toomua is injured and Beale, who likely would have been named to replace him, is unavailable while the Australian Rugby Union investigates his clash with a team official and allegations he sent lewd text messages.
In their absence, McKenzie has opted for calming influence in the centres and added some experience to the bench with the return of Quade Cooper.
Scandal has surrounded the squad since it emerged Beale had a heated in-flight argument with the team’s business manager en route to Argentina from South Africa for the last weekend of the Rugby Championship, and the female staffer subsequently quit. An investigation into that incident uncovered allegations that Beale had sent around sexist text messages in June, and inadvertently coded in the business manager.
There have also been doubts cast over McKenzie’s management in the midst of an away losing streak and a heavy injury toll, rumours about disharmony within the squad, and speculation that his brief tenure would end before the Wallabies’ upcoming tour of Europe.
Australia’s patchy form has seen them slip from No 2 to No 4 in the international rankings. After opening the Rugby Championship with a home draw against the All Blacks, Australia were thrashed 51-20 in New Zealand to surrender the Bledisloe Cup series. They had narrow wins at home against the Springboks and Pumas, but lost the matches in South Africa and Argentina.
“We can definitely improve on Eden Park. With the turnover situation, we gifted them a bunch of tries there. We had a couple of tries under the yellow card, so we can definitely do better than that – no question,” McKenzie said. “We were capable of winning the first Test, which was only seven days prior.”
The former Test prop and veteran coach said he had a resilient squad that could block out the off-field issues.
“If we can get it right this weekend, we have an undefeated domestic season – I look at the game and say there’s an opportunity to square the series, too,” he said. “Maybe the trophy is not there, but when there are things on offer, it’s a question of who stands up.”
World champions New Zealand won the Rugby Championship with a game to spare before a last-minute loss in South Africa ended their 22-Test unbeaten streak.
Leali’ifano, a regular starter before an ankle injury last year, will be making his first Test appearance in 2014.
He was one of two changes from the starting line-up that lost 21-17 in Mendoza – giving Argentina their first-ever win in the Rugby Championship – with Rob Simmons returning from injury to start at lock in place of James Horwill.
Vice-captain Adam Ashley-Cooper was selected to play his 100th Test – becoming the sixth Australian to reach that milestone – and will start on the wing, while Cooper adds experience to the bench after being included in the Test squad for the first time since recovering from left shoulder surgery earlier this year.
McKenzie said Leali’ifano gave the Wallabies a second playmaker option and 50-Test veteran Cooper brought something unique off the bench.
“The last (Test) he played, against Wales, he got man of the match,” McKenzie said. “The back end of the game, we’re looking for a bit of inspiration. Certainly, from what I’ve seen in training, (Cooper) hasn’t lost any of that. All the tricks are still there.”
Australia: Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani, Christian Leali’ifano, Joe Tomane, Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps; Scott Higginbotham, Michael Hooper (captain), Scott Fardy, Rob Simmons, Sekope Kepu, Saia Fainga’a, James Slipper. Reserves: Josh Mann-Rae, Benn Robinson, Ben Alexander, James Horwill, Matt Hodgson, Nic White, Quade Cooper, Rob Horne.
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Company%20Profile
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'Young girls thinking of big ideas'
Words come easy for aspiring writer Afra Al Muhairb. The business side of books, on the other hand, is entirely foreign to the 16-year-old Emirati. So, she followed her father’s advice and enroled in the Abu Dhabi Education Council’s summer entrepreneurship course at Abu Dhabi University hoping to pick up a few new skills.
“Most of us have this dream of opening a business,” said Afra, referring to her peers are “young girls thinking of big ideas.”
In the three-week class, pupils are challenged to come up with a business and develop an operational and marketing plan to support their idea. But, the learning goes far beyond sales and branding, said teacher Sonia Elhaj.
“It’s not only about starting up a business, it’s all the meta skills that goes with it -- building self confidence, communication,” said Ms Elhaj. “It’s a way to coach them and to harness ideas and to allow them to be creative. They are really hungry to do this and be heard. They are so happy to be actually doing something, to be engaged in creating something new, not only sitting and listening and getting new information and new knowledge. Now they are applying that knowledge.”
Afra’s team decided to focus their business idea on a restaurant modelled after the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Each level would have a different international cuisine and all the meat would be halal. The pupils thought of this after discussing a common problem they face when travelling abroad.
“Sometimes we find the struggle of finding halal food, so we just eat fish and cheese, so it’s hard for us to spend 20 days with fish and cheese,” said Afra. “So we made this tower so every person who comes – from Africa, from America – they will find the right food to eat.”
rpennington@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 2.7-litre 4-cylinder Turbomax
Power: 310hp
Torque: 583Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh192,500
On sale: Now
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eco%20Way%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Kroshnyi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electric%20vehicles%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bootstrapped%20with%20undisclosed%20funding.%20Looking%20to%20raise%20funds%20from%20outside%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
PROFILE OF CURE.FIT
Started: July 2016
Founders: Mukesh Bansal and Ankit Nagori
Based: Bangalore, India
Sector: Health & wellness
Size: 500 employees
Investment: $250 million
Investors: Accel, Oaktree Capital (US); Chiratae Ventures, Epiq Capital, Innoven Capital, Kalaari Capital, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Piramal Group’s Anand Piramal, Pratithi Investment Trust, Ratan Tata (India); and Unilever Ventures (Unilever’s global venture capital arm)
Jigra
Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Types of bank fraud
1) Phishing
Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
2) Smishing
The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
3) Vishing
The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
4) SIM swap
Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
5) Identity theft
Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
6) Prize scams
Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
Label: Parlophone/Atlantic
Number of tracks: 10
Rating: 3/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
If you go
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Seattle from Dh5,555 return, including taxes. Portland is a 260 km drive from Seattle and Emirates offers codeshare flights to Portland with its partner Alaska Airlines.
The car
Hertz (www.hertz.ae) offers compact car rental from about $300 per week, including taxes. Emirates Skywards members can earn points on their car hire through Hertz.
Parks and accommodation
For information on Crater Lake National Park, visit www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm . Because of the altitude, large parts of the park are closed in winter due to snow. While the park’s summer season is May 22-October 31, typically, the full loop of the Rim Drive is only possible from late July until the end of October. Entry costs $25 per car for a day. For accommodation, see www.travelcraterlake.com. For information on Umpqua Hot Springs, see www.fs.usda.gov and https://soakoregon.com/umpqua-hot-springs/. For Bend, see https://www.visitbend.com/.
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre 4-cylinder petrol
Power: 154bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Transmission: 7-speed automatic with 8-speed sports option
Price: From Dh79,600
On sale: Now
SPECS
Engine: Two-litre four-cylinder turbo
Power: 235hp
Torque: 350Nm
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Price: From Dh167,500 ($45,000)
On sale: Now
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TECH%20SPECS%3A%20APPLE%20WATCH%20SERIES%208
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EA Sports FC 25
Developer: EA Vancouver, EA Romania
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4&5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3.5/5