'He's ready this year': David Wilson endorses the next great Wallaby flanker
World Cup-winning Wallabies flanker David Wilson has tipped modern day counterpart Fraser McReight to own the position this season after the pair finally met for the first time.
Wilson, announced this month as a new addition to Queensland Rugby Union's hall of fame, was celebrated at the club's season launch on Friday.
One of the quiet achievers of the Wallabies' golden era that peaked with a World Cup win in 1999, the No.7 also won back-to-back Super 10 titles for the Reds with upset wins in South Africa.
His sons Harry and Teddy are in the mix for the NSW Waratahs, with halfback Teddy likely to face the Reds in Super Rugby Pacific's round one in Brisbane next Saturday.
Wilson, often a target of opposition's tags in the days of rucking, doesn't pretend to offer the pair of backs any advice but will put his Reds' loyalties to the side next weekend.
He did savour a meeting with current Wallabies No.7 McReight on Friday though, and has tipped the 24-year-old for big things, especially now that Michael Hooper has retired.
McReight won Australia's Super Rugby player of the year last season while he was selected ahead of Hooper for the World Cup.
"I know that can be frustrating; I was in a similar situation back when I started my rep career," Wilson said of McReight's apprenticeship.
He said Australian rugby would benefit from McReight's loyalty after he opted to remain in the country and pursue a Wallabies career, rather than take a lucrative overseas deal.
"It'll hold him in good stead; he's ready this year to really make the spot his own," he said of the flanker, who is signed until the end of next year.
"You don't want to lose great young players like that, and he was patient.
"You could see he had the ability, was confident he was going to make it and now with Michael retiring it's cleared the path to take on that role and it's great for Australian rugby.
"He can be massively (influential), for the Reds and Wallabies. He's a true No.7, a guy that's great on the ball and he plays it superbly."
The QRU on Friday announced a fifth-straight profit despite a reduction in Rugby Australia funding and expenditure to upgrade facilities, including the new National Rugby Training Centre.
That comes as debts of reportedly close to $20 million at the Melbourne Rebels have forced immediate staff cuts and placed the club's future in grave doubt.
"The QRU has turned Ballymore around from costing the organisation in excess of $1 million per annum to (come) close to break-even, before our predicted event and function revenue," QRU boss Dave Hanham said.
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> It would be best described as an elegant solution to what was potentially going to be a significant problem for new All Blacks coach Scott Robertson. It is a problem the mad population of New Zealand will have to cope with more and more as All Blacks are able to continue their careers in NZ post RWCs. It will not be a problem for coaches, who are always going to start a campaign with the captain for the next WC in mind. > Cane, despite his warrior spirit, his undoubted commitment to every team he played for and unforgettable heroics against Ireland in last year’s World Cup quarter-final, was never unanimously admired or respected within New Zealand while he was in the role. Neither was McCaw, he was considered far too passive a captain and then out of form until his last world cup where everyone opinions changed, just like they would have if Cane had won the WC. > It was never easy to see where Cane, or even if, he would fit into Robertson’s squad given the new coach will want to be building a new-look team with 2027 in mind. > Cane will win his selections on merit and come the end of the year, he’ll sign off, he hopes, with 100 caps and maybe even, at last, universal public appreciation for what was a special career. No, he won’t. Those returning from Japan have already earned the right to retain their jersey, it’s in their contract. Cane would have been playing against England if he was ready, and found it very hard to keep his place. Perform, and they keep it however. Very easy to see where Cane could have fit, very hard to see how he could have accomplished it choosing this year as his sabbatical instead of 2025, and that’s how it played out (though I assume we now know what when NZR said they were allowing him to move his sabbatical forward and return to NZ next year, they had actually agreed to simply select him for the All Blacks from overseas, without any chance he was going to play in NZ again). With a mammoth season of 15 All Black games they might as well get some value out of his years contract, though even with him being of equal character to Richie, I don’t think they should guarantee him his 100 caps. That’s not what the All Blacks should be about. He absolutely has to play winning football.
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