Berne to Bath

[The TRUTH]

Berne welcomed back to Bath


Planet Rugby

Monday March 13 2006
Waratahs centre re-joins Brian Ashton
After five years playing for the New South Wales Waratahs, Australia A centre Shaun Berne will return to Bath Rugby at the end of the current Super 14 season.



Berne, an outstanding play-maker and a former Rec favourite, has signed a three-year deal with Bath Rugby and will be a welcome addition to the Bath Rugby back line with his ability to play in the centre as well as at fly-half.

He has currently played a total of thirty-seven matches for the Warratahs with twenty-nine of those matches being played at Super 12 level.

Last season he featured in all but one match for the Warratahs in the Super 12 before going on to play for Australia ‘A’ in their series against the Junior All Blacks.

Berne left Bath at the end of the 2000/01 season, having made forty-four appearances for the club and scoring 128 points (16 tries, 13 conversions, 6 penalties and 1 drop-goal).

He came to Bath originally from the famous Randwick club in Australia and made a significant contribution to Bath Rugby in the 2000/01 season when he scored eleven tries.

He was drawn to the Waratahs by their former coach Bob Dwyer who was at the time coaching in England.

Berne is the second long-term signing under New Head Coach Brian Ashton, joining Samoan international Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu who signed a two-year deal with Bath Rugby back in February.

“I am delighted to see Shaun Berne back in the Bath community again," said Ashton.

"I remember him five or six years ago as a very talented half back. Since then he has gained a great deal of experience playing Super 14 rugby.

"He is a creative and incisive player who will help this club move forward over the next few years.â€

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Good news, He's not up to the standard of Super 14 rugby anymore

 

[robbinho]

Confirmed on the Bath site. From what I remember of him, he's a pretty handy player. Hopefully he's the 10 we need to really fire the backs, and persauade Barkley to stay.

 

[The TRUTH]

I wouldn't count on it, he's the one player holding the Tahs back ...... once Tuqiri and Sailor are back in the team he'll find him self on the bench.

 

[robbinho]

Um, surely he doesn't play in the same positions as them?

 

[The TRUTH]

No, he plays inside centre....... he's the Tahs 5th choice fly-half and besides Rogers and norton-knight they have some pretty shitty flyhalves.

at full strength there backline will look like this...

9.Whitaker
10.Rogers
11.Sailor
12.Turinui
13.Tuqiri
14.Hewat
15.Norton-Knight

With that backline you can see why he's the odd man out....... he really only looks like an inside centre,i'm not sure if you guys need one of those buts thats where he looks most suited these days.

 

[Wally]

Originally posted by The TRUTH!!@Mar 14 2006, 05:56 AM
No, he plays inside centre....... he's the Tahs 5th choice fly-half and besides Rogers and norton-knight they have some pretty shitty flyhalves.

at full strength there backline will look like this...

9.Whitaker
10.Rogers
11.Sailor
12.Turinui
13.Tuqiri
14.Hewat
15.Norton-Knight

With that backline you can see why he's the odd man out....... he really only looks like an inside centre,i'm not sure if you guys need one of those buts thats where he looks most suited these days.

Bullshit. He's third choice, if not second. He'll be a good player for a club like Bath.

 

[robbinho]

Got to say The Truth (if that is your real name), that your arguments just do not make sense. Regardless of what choice 10 he is, Sailor is a winger and Tuqiri a wing/outside centre - Berne is a 10/12 so is not in competition with either of them, so your point is fairly moot. Anyhoo, the proof of the pudding will be in the beating (everyone in the GP - see what i did there? eh?)

 

[The TRUTH]

Originally posted by robbinho@Mar 15 2006, 04:36 AM
Got to say The Truth (if that is your real name), that your arguments just do not make sense. Regardless of what choice 10 he is, Sailor is a winger and Tuqiri a wing/outside centre - Berne is a 10/12 so is not in competition with either of them, so your point is fairly moot. Anyhoo, the proof of the pudding will be in the beating (everyone in the GP - see what i did there? eh?)

What?...... i said.....

once Tuqiri and Sailor are back in the team he'll find him self on the bench.[/b]

Sailor is set to come back from suspention,Tuqiri has just left for the Commonwealth games ......... once there both playing in the team Turinui moves to 12 and one of the two (most likely Tuqiri) will play 13 and Berne will be demoted to the bench

Um, surely he doesn't play in the same positions as them?[/b]

No , he plays inside centre....... he's the Tahs 5th choice fly-half and besides Rogers and norton-knight they have some pretty shitty flyhalves.[/b]

OK let me break it down for you......

Matt Rogers is the Tahs first choice 10 ,he missed the first 3 rounds.....Knorton-Knight is there second best flyhalf ,but he's been playing fullback(and doing a fine job) ...... even when Rogers was away they chose to leave him at full back(much to the bewilderment of most Waratah fans)

So..... Donnelly started the season at 10 ...... he was shite....

So.... then they brought in Halangahu ....... he too was crap....

Not once did they give Berne the #10 jersey(hence the 5th choice remark) ........ although personally i think he (or anyone) is a better choice at fly half than Donnelly or Halangahu.

As someone who has watched him play every week for one of my favorite teams i'm not sad to see the back of him ....... point is.... he's just not a first XV super 14 level player anymore (that doesn't really sound right)

TBH i'm not really sure what level the GP is compared to the Super14 ....... maybe he will be good at that standard ........anyhoo........... Best of luck to him at Bath


Heres a Quote from Wally in last weeks Waratah v Cats thread

The Waratahs backline goes down several notches with Shaun Berne at inside, he just isn't Super 14 standard. Hopefully Dell bumps Tuqiri back down to outside when they're both playing together in a couple of weeks.[/b]

 

[sanzar]

 

[THE CHIROPRACTOR101]

Berne to Bath


well how long has it been?....hahahahahhaa

 

[Wally]

Berne is the Tah's starting inside centre at the moment in any case, and he's Super 14 standard so he can't be too bad.