Here are the latest rugby headlines on Tuesday, June 6.
Eddie backtracks on quitting comments
Australia coach Eddie Jones has backtracked on comments suggesting he might quit the Wallabies job after this year's World Cup in France.
The former England coach signed a five-year deal to return to the Australia job in January, but his comments on the Evening Standard Rugby Podcast cast doubt on whether he'd even be in the role for a full year. It also led Rugby Australia officials to contact him and his management for clarification.
"I'm only coaching 'til this World Cup," Jones told the podcast.
"I've signed [until the end of 2027], but as I've made the mistake before, I've stayed too long. So, we win the World Cup, it will be time to go. If we lose the World Cup, it will be time to go."
Jones has previously expressed regret about continuing as England's coach beyond the 2019 World Cup.
In a statement last week, Rugby Australia expressed confidence that Jones would see out his full five-year contract. And, in an effort to clear up any confusion, Jones reached out to the Sydney Morning Herald to reaffirm his commitment to coaching the Wallabies through to the 2027 World Cup.
"I am here for five years,' Jones said. "But my only concentration is this Rugby World Cup, so I don't think past that."
Wales lock injury update
Wales and Gloucester-Hartpury second-row Gwen Crabb is not expected to return to the field much before Christmas after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament during the Women's Six Nations.
The 23-year-old forward sustained the serious knee injury six minutes into Wales' tournament-opening win against Ireland in April, when she was returning to play after fracturing her fibula in December. She has undergone surgery and faces a return date between December 2023 and February 2024.
It means she will miss Wales' appearance at World Rugby's new women's competition WXV this autumn.
Gloucester-Hartpury Women coach Sean Lynn told WalesOnline: "She'll be coming back into next season. Knowing Gwen and how she looks after herself, her rehab, everything she does just epitomises what a pro rugby player should be about. She will work constantly on her rehab. The amount of effort she put in to get over her ankle injury to get ready for the Six Nations was amazing.
"I've had real positive chats with her already after her op on her knee, and she's in a real good place and she'll work hard. Fingers crossed she'll be ready by Christmas time next season."
London Irish face suspension from Premiership as deadline looms
By Duncan Bech, PA England Rugby Correspondent
London Irish are expected to be suspended from the Gallagher Premiership on Tuesday when the deadline to prove they have the finances needed to operate next season expires.
Irish have until 4pm to either complete a proposed takeover by an American consortium or for owner Mick Crossan to commit to the club for the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign.
As of Monday, the buyout was no closer to being finalised with key documentation including proof of funds yet to be supplied to the Rugby Football Union, while Crossan is intent on severing ties.
Only 50 per cent of the staff payroll for May was paid and the outstanding wages must also be settled if Irish are to take their place in next season's Premiership.
It was Crossan's failure to pay the salaries in full last week that persuaded the RFU to extend the deadline by six days in the hope that staff and players would get the money owed to them.
Suspension from the Premiership would result in the club being demoted to the foot of the rugby pyramid.
Irish's outlook deteriorated further on Friday when they were issued with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs over an unpaid tax bill.
Petitions have been filed against London Irish Holdings Limited and London Irish Rugby Football Ground Limited.
The demise of the Exiles, who finished the Premiership in fifth place, would conclude the darkest season in the history of the English club game after Wasps and Worcester folded because of their own financial difficulties.
Wasps have been demoted to the foot of the rugby pyramid after their new owners failed to secure the funding needed to relaunch in the Championship, while Worcester have gone quiet on their plan of rebuilding from the fifth tier.
Irish have debts in the region of £30million and do not own their own stadium, instead playing at Brentford's Gtech Community Stadium after a 20-year spell at Reading's Madejski Stadium.
Bill Sweeney and Simon Massie-Taylor, chief executives of the RFU and Premiership Rugby respectively, were accused by MPs of presiding over a "failure on an epic scale" following the collapse of Wasps and Worcester, but Irish have been given every opportunity to secure their future.
The governing bodies have been forced to weigh the desire to see the Exiles survive with the need to put plans in place for next season, with the reduction of clubs from 13 to 10 requiring a different league structure.
If a third club is lost, the bleak financial climate of the Premiership in the post-Covid era will be highlighted once again with teams able to operate through the funding of benefactors.
Parisse's epic message
Italy legend Sergio Parisse has released an epic farewell message on social media a week after playing his last rugby game, for Toulon. The 39-year-old has brought the curtain down on a career spanning 20 years.
His statement reads:
“I remember the coach’s first indications: “pass the ball back”… yes, run and advance by passing the ball backwards or at most on the same line,” Parisse wrote. “At the beginning it wasn’t so obvious, but day after day, training after training, it became normal… I stared at the ball as it spun to try to anticipate its direction before it bounced on the ground… so beautiful, what memories!
“If I had to describe the precise moment in which I understood that rugby was not just a pastime but something much bigger, I would say that the answer closest to the truth is when at the age of eight I participated in a tournament with my club… I remember a precise action that triggered something in me that I would carry with me throughout my career: two guys passed the ball running towards the goal area, calm, almost joking, while my teammates watched them from afar without even trying to stop them. So I started running desperately to try to tackle them and not let them score and after a long sprint, when I reached the one who had the ball in his hand, I dived to tackle him from behind, getting a cleat on the face… a lot of nosebleeds came out and after that day, and for all the other games I played until I was 39, I told myself that I wanted to be stronger than the others, I wanted to be the one to have the ball in my hand and run to score the try. God only knows how many other times I’ve lost in my life and how many more I’ve been hurt, but since that day I haven’t let go of the rugby ball, at home, in the garden, at school… I went to the club 2/3 hours before of training to make passes trying to catch targets: the Hs, a flag, a step in the grandstand, even my sister, at home, had to catch the ball that I passed or kicked to her. I had different types of ball, always rugby, some bigger, some smaller, some foam with which I trained to kick drops in the kitchen!
“How many memories, how many years have passed, it really seems that time has flown by, how much I would like to continue playing. I don’t think I will ever be able to explain the feeling that I will have for life for rugby and from that day, 91 to today, 2023, I have always tried to be the best rugby player possible!
“Thank you dad for playing rugby, thank you mum for taking me to play every week, even with a 39° fever to see my teammates training, or when training was canceled due to the rain and I asked you to take me anyway in case there was any other boy present to make even just two passes… And thanks to my sister, for being my “teammate at home” for so many years. Thanks to every single coach, from the first ones of the Club Universitario de La Plata, to those of the national youth teams, those of Benetton Rugby.
“Thanks to John Kirwan for having believed in me at only 18, making my debut in the senior national team, thanks to Max Guazzini for allowing me to discover Paris and the Stade Français, thanks to Nick Mallet for having entrusted me with the captain’s armband at 24 and thanks to every single coach I had in France and during my 142 appearances in the blue shirt. Thanks to Toulon for adopting me as a 'grown up' giving me the chance to win a European trophy at almost 40 years old.
“Thanks to my fans: like you there is no one in the world! Your affection and unconditional support have made successes special and disappointments more bearable. Thank you my love for coming into my life in my darkest moment, making me discover what love was, supporting me in every single moment and giving me two wonderful children who are our greatest pride!
“And last but not least (as Snoop Dog would say) I would like to thank ME! I would like to thank ME for always believing in ME, I would like to thank ME for working harder and harder, making invisible sacrifices for everyone but which made the difference! I would like to thank ME for always being consistent and sincere in every single moment of this long and wonderful life as a rugby player.”
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