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Wallabies reaping rewards from new foreign-based arrivals
By AAP
The Wallabies' mid-week billiards battles have become a competitive outlet to cope with their sudden glut of Rugby Championship options.
Nic White will return to the starting side at stand-out No 9 Tate McDermott's expense on Saturday as Australia seeks back-to-back wins over world No 1 South Africa.
White seized his chance when an injured McDermott didn't return in the second half of Sunday's two-point win, playing with a fury that captain Michael Hooper is well acquainted to.
"Nic's not angry, he's competitive and he's ultimately competitive," he said ahead of their Suncorp Stadium clash.
"Had a pool competition this week and ... we got towards the end and there's no talking, we're into each other, he just wants to win everything.
"You can imagine, this guy hasn't played a huge amount of rugby, so he gets on at halftime, he's buzzing to make a difference.
"You love to play with guys that just want to win and compete."
The battle for the No 9 jersey is reflected across the park, thanks largely to the return of No 10 Quade Cooper, back rower Sean McMahon and No 12 Samu Kerevi.
Cooper and Kerevi's form have kept James O'Connor and Hunter Paisami out of the side, while McMahon could play his first test in four years next week against Argentina.
"He's 27, still has so much footy ahead of him," Hooper said of his old back row partner, who is based in Japan and like Kerevi allowed to play under Rugby Australia's loosened eligibility laws.
"Brutal in defence ... and he has some of the best leg drive in the business.
"He'll bust through tackles with sheer belligerence."
Even before McMahon's late arrival in camp there was back row depth, with Lachie Swinton and Rob Valetini partnering Hooper and Pete Samu off the bench.
It's meant Queensland Reds standouts Fraser McReight and Harry Wilson, who was a regular in Rennie's starting side last year, are not even in the 23.
And, stuck behind Allan Alaalatoa on the bench for all but one test this year, Taniela Tupou will relish a starting role this weekend.
"It's awesome having competition and depth for positions - managing that is the tricky part," Hooper said.
"The guys who aren't, and there's a lot of them not in the 23, we've seen some great attitude from them."
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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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