have been, there was widespread debate about the long-term planning and health of Australian rugby following the Wallabies 42-8 loss to the All Blacks in Sydney.Former Wallabies forward Pet

After losing in overtime at Texas A&M and in lopsided fashion to Alabama at home, Tennessee needed last weeks break before heading into the stretch run that it hopes will end with an SEC East Division title and a berth in the conference championship game.The 18th-ranked Volunteers hope (5-2, 2-2 SEC) start with a trip to South Carolina (3-4, 1-4). The two teams meet at 7:15 p.m. Saturday (ESPN2) in Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia, S.C.I thought it was a very productive open week, work week, Tennessee coach Butch Jones said. Now, what did we do with it? We had a lot of individuals gain physical reps. Some gained mental reps.Again, its very, very important now that we get back to work and we have game-speed repetitions with some time off.The Vols find themselves at a disadvantage in the division race for the first time since handing Florida its only loss back on Sept. 24. So far, that has been the only setback for the Gators, who play Georgia this weekend and have the postponed contest with LSU coming next month in Baton Rouge, La.Tennessee cant afford another loss at this point.They understand the stakes, Jones said, referring to his players. They understand the importance and the magnitude of each game. Its all about being a champion, an individual champion.What happens is to win championships, your team is comprised of individual champions. Its individuals that live their life like a champion. Theyre a champion every day by the way they handle their academics, by the way they handle their nutrition, their rest, their attitude, their practice, their mentality, by their style of play.We dont ever talk about winning championships. Its about being a champion each and every day, and we talk about that.Recent history would seem to indicate that no matter what it may look like on paper, the game against South Carolina could work out to be a much bigger challenge for the Vols than might be expected.The last four meetings have been decided by a total of 11 points, with the Gamecocks winning by 38-35 in Columbia in 2012 and the Vols by 23-21 (2013), 45-42 in overtime (2014) and 27-24 last year.As a coach, you sit and watch their body of work on video and I see a football team continuing to improve and get better and better, Jones said of the Gamecocks, who snapped a three-game losing streak with last weeks 34-28 win over Massachusetts. Im very impressed with them defensively.They make you beat them. They make you beat them through execution. Theyre only giving up 21 points per game. I believe theyre 11th in the country in red zone efficiency, so execution will be at a premium.The Gamecocks played with a new starter at quarterback last week, yanking the redshirt off freshman Jake Bentley, who responded by completing 17 of 26 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns. But this will be his first time against an SEC defense.Regardless of the situation, we have a lot of confidence in Jake and anybody we put on the field regardless of who they are and position concerned, South Carolina coach Will Muschamp said. Tennessee has a good football team. Weve got to give those guys credit.Muschamp singled out one Tennessee defender for particular attention. Defensive end Derek Barnett has 11.5 tackles for loss with six of the teams 10 sacks.I think hes the guy that can change games, Muschamp said, and we need to account for him.So, too, can Bentleys Tennessee counterpart at quarterback. Vols senior Josh Dobbs has rushed for 293 yards, third on the team, and passed for 1,525. Junior running back Jalen Hurd has rushed for 435 yards despite missing one game to injury.Josh Dobbs is a three-year starter in our league, Muschamp said. Hes won a bunch of ball games and does a great job. Jalen Hurd is a guy that runs extremely hard. Hes tough, physical and competitive. Hes going to fight for every yard.Youre going to have to get a bunch of hats around the ball and gang-tackle this guy. Youve got to finish on this guy. Hes a very competitive runner.Fake Yeezys Boost . The Olympic champion curler and TSN curling analyst immediately went online to look at the Halls long list of honoured members. Thats when the enormity of the honour sunk in. Fake Yeezy Powerphase .2 billion agreement with Rogers Communications for the leagues broadcast and multimedia rights. http://www.fakeyeezysforsale.com/ . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Fake Yeezy 350 Cleat . The Oilers come in having lost five in a row (0-4-1) and 16 of their last 20 games, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday. Fake Yeezy Boost 700 .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach.Steve Hansen says hes desperate not to lose the Bledisloe Cup on his watch before he signs off after Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan, kicks back and toasts semi-retirement with a Canterbury Draught watching New Zealand go about their business.To the average Australian rugby supporter, it is a painful prospect to consider. But it also reflects the All Blacks determination to maintain their Bledisloe stranglehold for many years to come. And if Australian rugby is being serious, regaining the Cup in 2020 may in itself be a pipe dream such is the scope of the problem hamstringing the game this side of the Tasman: player depth.In Wellington on Saturday, the All Blacks were effectively down to their fifth-string inside centre in Anton Lienert-Brown; Sonny Bill Williams, Ryan Crotty, Charlie Ngatai and George Moala were on the injured list, yet Lienert-Brown slotted in with ease and made an impressive debut.The Wallabies, on the other hand, were forced to shift regular fly-half Bernard Foley to No. 12 following injuries to Matt Giteau and Matt Toomua, and that suffered by Kurtley Beale earlier in the year.One spot further out, Samu Kerevi endured a tough night after being called in for the desperately out-of-form Tevita Kuridrani while Adam Ashley-Coopers head knock added to the problems on the wings. After a strong debut series against England, Dane Haylett-Petty has been isolated and destroyed in defence by the All Blacks.There are similar problems in the pack without getting into specifics, although a fifth different lock combination in five Test matches highlights the issues the Wallabies have in the second row.And then there is the ongoing issue of the huge money on offer in European and Japanese rugby.It makes for depressing reading, particularly when compared with New Zealands embarrassment of riches, a seemingly always-overflowing pit of talent that could see the Highlanders Matt Faddes or Chiefs James Lowe step in out wide, the diminutive Brad Weber offer cover as the fourth-string scrum-half, and Elliot Dixon or Brad Shields provide options in the back-row.And the list goes on, right down through to generation-next, where you find a player such as Jordie Barrett. Sound like youve heard that name before? Thats because hes Beaudens brother.On Sunday afternoon, 19-year-old Jordie registered a lazy 225 points playing for Canterbury alongside another of the Barrett boys -- Scott -- in the Mitre 10 Cup.dddddddddddd. And therein lies New Zealands great advantage: a long-established and highly competitive third-tier.The Mitre 10 Cup has, under various banners, been around since 1976, affordeding New Zealanders from all parts of the country the chance to play quality rugby while representing their region. Add to that the Ranfurly Shield -- of which there was a superb challenge in Hamilton on Saturday -- and the strength of the pillar beneath Super Rugby in New Zealand becomes abundantly clear.Meanwhile in Australia, the Australian Rugby Union is playing catch-up with the National Rugby Championship which kicked off for just its third season at the weekend.Set up -- rightly or wrongly depending on who you talk to along the east coast -- by the ARU to help to close the gap between club rugby and Super Rugby, Australian rugby and New Zealand rugby, the quality of play in the NRC is some way short of that in the Mitre 10 Cup. And while Australia saw the first NRC-grown Wallaby in Reece Hodge on Saturday, its going to take some before that becomes the norm rather than the exception. Just as there should have been, there was widespread debate about the long-term planning and health of Australian rugby following the Wallabies 42-8 loss to the All Blacks in Sydney.Former Wallabies forward Peter Fitzsimons wrote in support of clubland, and the wonderful afternoon at the Shute Shield final -- covered for ESPN by Greg Growden - while Brett Papworth followed a similar path but decided to take aim at the ARUs top-level spending which was supposed to make us a rugby superpower.Both Fitzsimmons and Papworth made valid points and identified greater problems within Australian rugby, that in one way or another relate to the Wallabies most pressing problem: player depth.And thats exactly why, with this weekend off, Hansen will probably take a moment to stop, smile and take in some Mitre 10 Cup action all the while knowing the competition will continue to foster the talent he needs to retain the Bledisloe through to 2020.For Australia, 2030 might well be a more attainable Bledisloe brief. 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