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Is captaincy on the cards in the near future for Wallabies birthday boy Harry Wilson?
By AAP
Thinking more about cake than captaincy, young Wallabies star Harry Wilson says he's not ready to be in the leadership mix.
There has been talk that the Wallabies should look to a new captain to lead them through to the 2023 World Cup, with Michael Hooper better served focusing on his own game.
The 29-year-old handed over the captaincy reins at the Waratahs for 2020 and had one of his best Super Rugby seasons.
Under Hooper, who became skipper in 2014, the Australians have a miserable record of 20 wins from 51 Tests, leading to talk that coach Dave Rennie should look for a fresh start.
As well as Hooper, only No.8 Wilson, halfback Nic White and lock Matt Philip have started each Test this year.
Injured playmaker Matt Toomua is a captaincy possibility but is almost two years older than Hooper.
Wilson turned 21 last Sunday and had a mini celebration with his Wallabies teammates serving up a chocolate cake as they started preparations for their final Tri Nations clash with Argentina on December 5.
Despite Hooper taking over as full-time skipper when he only 22, Wilson says he isn't ready.
"Definitely not for the next few years," Wilson said on Thursday.
"I'm just focused on trying to get my spot in the team each week.
"In this squad there are a lot of good leaders and there's a lot of people who help out Hoops (Hooper) a lot so I'm just focused on trying to stay in the team."
Wilson said it was a compliment that he could be considered as a future Australian captain but it wasn't on his radar.
He said he had already eclipsed his own expectations this year by playing regular Test rugby.
"I'm just having the best time of my life at the moment playing for the Wallabies and that's all I really want to do. I'm not focused on any leadership aspirations at the moment.
"I just want to keep playing good footy for my country and try to do it as long as I can."
In team news, five-eighth James O'Connor is firming to return from injury for the final Pumas match at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium.
O'Connor trained with the team on Thursday and was rated a strong chance after missing the past three games with a knee and then foot injury.
The Wallabies are hoping for a big finish to try to secure the Tri Nations trophy.
- Melissa Woods
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Latest Comments
There's no easy fix here. From a geography standpoint, South Africa is kind of on an island alone in the rugby world, much like Argentina.
They don't have enough talent to have a top tier domestic league of their own, and it won't support the union financially. Best case you could hope for would be the five extant franchises (including Cheetahs) and perhaps a team from Namimbia. Gives you a 6 team league, that's not enough. Plus again, it's just not financially sustainable either.
At the same time, it's not really great for them to be involved in either the European or the Pacific rugby set up. That said, as bad as the travel is, at least Europe makes more sense from a time zone perspective. I still think it's the least bad option. Also has done wonders for the URC.
I don't think though, that it makes very much sense to have 4 teams from the URC excluded from European qualification. Not to mention, being able to compete in the Champions Cup was a big draw for the South African clubs anyway.
So yeah, I don't really see a change that makes more sense than the less than ideal situation that already exists.
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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