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Joe Schmidt watches on as Jock Campbell delivers pre-season masterclass
By AAP
Jock Campbell knew he wasn't Eddie Jones' type but also that he wasn't playing well enough to warrant another Test crack anyway.
It's a "clean slate" now under new Wallabies mentor Joe Schmidt, who was in the crowd in Roma to watch the Queensland Reds' fullback carve up NSW Waratahs in Saturday's Super Rugby Pacific trial.
The fluid mover set up two tries with crisp passing and evasive running.
In between, he made a clean break from broken play to score one himself in a dominant half.
At 29-0 the game was over at the break, with Campbell substituted for Jordan Petaia in a reminder of the talent new Reds coach Les Kiss has at his disposal.
Campbell's understated style has meant he's worked for every cap as he summitted from club footy.
But he had a fan in former Reds coach Brad Thorn, who said he reminded him of Darren Lockyer and Ben Smith.
Rennie eventually saw it too and offered Campbell a chance on the 2022 spring tour, but he fell quickly off the radar under Jones' tenure.
"Eddie, you listen to him talk and the first thing he says it that he's all about big and powerful," Campbell told AAP.
"But I didn't play as good as I would have wanted to last year anyway.
"Hopefully, Les does appreciate me but I can't control what the coach likes, so I don't bother thinking about that.
"I just want to focus on the Reds winning because we've got a good roster and close isn't really good enough any more.
"That's my goal this year, see how good we can get."
Campbell watched from afar as his Reds' Test mates battled last year before Jones was eventually replaced by Schmidt after their historically poor World Cup.
"It was tumultuous as a fan and as a player, even though I wasn't in the inner sanctum like I was with Dave," said Campbell.
"I was just feeling for the guys like Jordy (Petaia) and Tate (McDermott).
"The effort they were putting in and to get those results, under a lot of pressure.
"I felt for them, I know it sucks."
He said Kiss's arrival at Ballymore to replace long-time coach Thorn had helped deal with the Wallabies pain.
"I'm not sure the change was needed, but I definitely think a new coach, everyone here's trying to impress," he said.
"You go up a level just naturally and with Eddie going it's a clean slate once again, like it was 12 months ago."
The Reds host the Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium in their season-opener on February 24.
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Latest Comments
No he's just limited in what he can do. Like Scott Robertson. And Eddie Jones.
Sometimes it doesn't work out so you have to go looking for another national coach who supports his country and believes in what he is doing. Like NZ replacing Ian Foster. And South Africa bringing Erasmus back in to over see Neinbar.
This is the real world. Not the fantasy oh you don't need passion for your country for international rugby. Ask a kiwi, or a south african or a frenchman.
Go to commentsDont complain too much or start jumping to conclusions.
Here in NZ commentators have been blabbing that our bottom pathway competition the NPC (provincial teams only like Taranaki, Wellington etc)is not fit for purpose ie supplying players to Super rugby level then they started blabbing that our Super Rugby comp (combined provincial unions making up, Crusaders, Hurricanes, etc) wasn't good enough without the South African teams and for the style SA and the northern powers play at test level.
Here is what I reckon, Our comps are good enough for how WE want to play rugby not how Ireland, SA, England etc play. Our comps are high tempo, more rucks, mauls, running plays, kicks in play, returns, in a game than most YES alot of repetition but that builds attacking skillsets and mindsets. I don't want to see world teams all play the same they all have their own identity and style as do England (we were scared with all this kind of talk when they came here) World powerhouse for a reason, losses this year have been by the tiniest of margins and could have gone either way in alot of games. Built around forward power and blitz defence they have got a great attack Wingers are chosen for their Xfactor now not can they chase up and unders all day. Stick to your guns its not far off
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