'Initially my reaction was I don't really know what utility is'
Josh Kemeny and Dylan Pietsch were as surprised as anyone to be listed as utilities in the Wallabies squad to tackle South Africa but will happily wear any number on their back if it means a Test debut.
Coach Eddie Jones talked up the versatility of his players chosen for next month's Pretoria Test, saying he wants "multi-dimensional" men in this year's Rugby World Cup squad.
For Pietsch it's not a stretch, with the 25-year-old saying he was always a flanker before being turned into a winger on joining the NSW Waratahs two years ago from the Olympic Sevens program.
"I've been a backrower my whole life, so it's something I'm pretty comfortable with," said Pietsch, who is aiming to be the 15th Indigenous Wallaby, and the first since 2010.
"Initially my reaction was 'I don't really know what utility is', but I don't really care because I was so happy I'm in the squad. Since I was a little kid I've always wanted to be Wallaby.
"Eddie sat me down and said I was an option and to get my head around the line-outs."
Jones has said Kemeny, normally a backrower, could be used on a wing if needed. The 194cm, 110kg Kemeny has never played as a winger, but has always topped the Melbourne Rebels forwards in fitness drills.
Sporting a black eye as he fronted the media on Monday, he didn't quite have the look of an outside back.
"I was probably even more confused than Dyl (Pietsch) because we played back-row together a few years ago, so he's more versed in that position than I am out on the wing," said the 24-year-old, originally from Sydney.
"It's news to me but to be part of the squad and add impact wherever I can is what I want to do.
"It's not necessarily something that I've done as a junior or that I've been chasing to do, but if it's going to add some value to the team I'm happy to do that."
The pair were former teammates in a NSW schoolboys side in year 12, with Pietsch at open-side flanker and Kemeny blind-side.
While Kemeny was included in a Wallabies training squad in 2021 by then coach Dave Rennie, he didn't feel time was on his side ahead of this year's Rugby World Cup.
He suffered a serious knee in July that year, which meant 16 months out following complications from a tendon graft after surgery.
Kemeny started the 2023 Super Rugby Pacific season in round one but spent three weeks on the sidelines from round 11 with a dangerous tackle ban.
"It was a long rehab," Kemeny said. "To find some confidence and stay on the park this year was my goal and everything that's come with it has been a massive bonus.
"I was absolutely gutted for Rebels (when suspended) but 100 per cent I was gutted (for myself). I thought I'd really knocked myself back a few pegs by missing those weeks but I just made sure that when I got back out there for the last few games I put my best foot forward.
"To get my foot through the door and my name on the list, that was all I cared about and I'm just going to work from there."
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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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