'Not much of a talker': Skelton's surprise captaincy a result of 'trial and error'
Serial winner Will Skelton can barely remember the last time he captained a team, but isn't shying away from leading the Wallabies at next month's Rugby World Cup.
Coach Eddie Jones dumped veteran prop James Slipper from his co-captaincy gig and axed injured fellow leader Michael Hooper from his squad altogether, opting instead to hand the reins to 203-centimetre tall behemoth Skelton. Halfback Tate McDermott will be deputy.
Europe-based Skelton, who boasts a stack of titles with English club Saracens and his current French side La Rochelle, admits he lacks leadership experience and isn't much of a talker, but was happy to answer Jones's call.
"It's very special, not just for me, but my family," the 31-year-old said.
"Putting on the jersey is one thing and then to be named captain, selected by Eddie, is something I'll never forget.
"What comes with that is a lot of responsibilities, a bit more pressure. It's just about being myself, leading in the only way I can, which is through my actions.
"I'm not much of a talker around the team ... it's getting this group well connected for a hard slog."
Jones said his captaincy options had been "trial and error" since returning as Australia's coach.
He went with Slipper and Hooper as co-captains for the recent Rugby Championship, before McDermott led the side against New Zealand last weekend.
Allan Alaalatoa has also filled the role within the last year.
"Part of the job of taking over the team was to develop a leadership team that could take Australian rugby back to where we want to be, and that's at the top of the world," Jones said.
"There's a bit of trial and error. We went with two experienced guys in Hoops and Slips, but unfortunately, Hoops got injured after one game so that was the end of that experiment.
"We've been looking at what is the right mix of people to captain the team ... it's more than captaining ... Will's a very good leader of men."
Skelton recalled one previous captaincy experience, leading a Wallabies XV against the French Barbarians in 2016, a match his side lost 19-11.
He'll form a fearsome lock pairing with either Richie Arnold or Nick Frost, leading a forward pack he believes can challenge the world's best.
"We've got a lot of experience in our pack, some big men as well," Skelton said.
"They love the physical battle, having that size and that power can go one of two ways - we can shy away from it or we can take it forward and step into that contact and that physicality.
"I've got no question we'll be able to help these young boys in our team really go forwards."
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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