Beale back at full tilt ahead of Bledisloe Cup
Veteran Kurtley Beale says he's back to full speed after suffering a hamstring injury and is putting his hand up for Wallabies' selection against New Zealand.
No certainty to take on the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup clash in Melbourne next Thursday night, Wallabies veteran Kurtley Beale says he will be ready if he gets the opportunity.
The 33-year-old rejoined the squad for the Cup campaign, which opens at Marvel Stadium before a return clash at Eden Park on September 24, with Australia looking to wrest back the trans-Tasman trophy for the first time in 19 years.
The matches also count toward the Rugby Championship, with the Wallabies third on the table with New Zealand on top.
The Wallabies are coming off an ugly 24-8 loss to South Africa in Sydney, out-muscled up front by the world champions while New Zealand returned to their winning ways with a 50-point win over Argentina.
Making his Test debut in 2009, Beale said the "burn" to win the Bledisloe still remained.
"Absolutely and we feel that we can get the job down," he said.
"We've got to respect the ABs - they're a great team - but we have to go out with full belief.
"After South Africa there's been a lot of constructive criticism and harsh conversations but they're ones that will allow us to make sure we have our own backyard sorted to bounce back."
Beale spent around six months out after suffering a freak injury in February while playing for French club Racing 92 when he ruptured his semitendinosus, one of three muscles that make up the hamstring.
After a long rehabilitation, the 95-Test veteran says he's back to "top speed" and is raring to go.
"I'm feeling good and am back to top speed now and and feel ready; I'm really excited to be back with the group," said Beale, who has rejoined the Waratahs.
"I feel ready now and if given an opportunity I'll make sure that I put my best foot forward but if not, then I'll just keep grinding away helping around the team and make the 23 who are selected are ready to go.
"I'm keen to rub off on my experience on the group and try to help out the guys as much as I can to get the results we want."
Playing fullback at the 2019 World Cup, Beale's international career appeared over until he answered a SOS from Wallabies coach Dave Rennie and came off the bench against Scotland on the spring tour.
He said he wasn't sure how Rennie planned to use him but he'd mostly played at 12 and 10 with his Top League team.
"I guess my versatility helps me ... but I think in this group it will be in the outside backs, fullback, I'm assuming.
"The key message for me from David is to make sure that I'm sharp - pretty straight and simple.
"He wants me to make sure that I've got the speed, the agility that I once had and after a long injury, it's important that I'm I'm confident in my ability to be able to display that."
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Recent complaints that SA players have a 12-month workload isn't of itself a credible enough excuse to lay at the door of EPCR administrators. If SA clubs want to participate in NH league and club competitions and also participate in SH internationals, then clearly something has to give.
From the EPCR perspective, I do think that the format/schedule issues can be fixed if there's a strong enough desire to remove some of the logistical challenges clubs are facing with these long and frequent trips across the hemispheres.
From the SA player workload perspective however, I'm not sure how players can participate safely and competitively at both the club and international levels. Perhaps - and as Rassie appears to be developing, SA develop a super squad with sufficient player numbers and rotation to allow players to compete across the full 12-month calendar.
Bottom line though, is the geographical isolation is always going to restrict SA's ability to having the best of both worlds.
Go to commentsMoriaty refused to play for wales also he’s injured, France’s is being coy about wales, North in the dark but Sam David and jerad are you joking their not good enough
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