The Wallabies have named uncapped Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan and Western Force winger Nick Cummins in their 28-man Wallabies squad for The Rugby Championship away leg.
rugbyweek
Ryan and Cummins, who both featured in last weekend’s Shute Shield final in NSW club rugby, have trained with the national squad throughout the Rugby Championship without being required to don a jersey on match night.
The squad, which departs in the morning, is missing flyhalf Quade Cooper, who was last night ruled out by a knee cartilage injury which will require an operation.
The group does include the previously injured trio of hooker Stephen Moore (hamstring), lock Sitaleki Timani (hamstring) and winger Dominic Shipperley (dislocated finger).
All three players are expected to be available for selection for the match night squad for Australia’s first match on the tour, which comes against South Africa at Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria, on Saturday September 29.
The Wallabies will be bidding for back-to-back wins on the South African high veldt in that match, having clinched an epic 41-39 win at their last attempt at Bloemfontein in 2010, which represented Australia’s first win at altitude in the Republic for 47 years.
Shipperley, who underwent a finger operation on the middle finger of his right hand on Sunday after injuring it in the Test on the Gold Coast the week before, will travel with the squad in the morning.
Three players who won’t are centre Ben Tapuai, inside centre Mike Harris and second row Rob Simmons who have been released to participate in Sunday’s Brisbane club final between University and Sunnybank.
Once through that match, the trio will join the squad in Johannesburg next Tuesday.
The Wallabies squad:
Adam Ashley-Cooper (NSW Waratahs), Kurtley Beale (Melbourne Rebels), Digby Ioane (Queensland Reds), Dominic Shipperley (Queensland Reds), Nick Cummins (Western Force), Ben Tapuai (Queensland Reds), Anthony Fainga’a (Queensland Reds), Pat McCabe (Brumbies), Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs), Mike Harris (Queensland Reds), Nick Phipps (Melbourne Rebels), Brett Sheehan (Western Force), Scott Higginbotham (Queensland Reds), Radike Samo (Queensland Reds), Michael Hooper (Brumbies), Liam Gill (Queensland Reds), Dave Dennis (NSW Waratahs), Rob Simmons (Queensland Reds), Nathan Sharpe (Western Force), Kane Douglas (NSW Waratahs), Sitaleki Timani (NSW Waratahs), Ben Alexander (Brumbies), Paddy Ryan (NSW Waratahs), James Slipper (Queensland Reds), Benn Robinson (NSW Waratahs), Saia Fainga’a (Queensland Reds), Stephen Moore (Brumbies), Tatafu Polota Nau (NSW Waratahs).
Nick Cummins is solid…. Paddy, well he is average at best.
Bokke need to bury the Wobblies at Loftus!
If HM picks the right team and the right tactics then the Boks should donner this limited Aussie team.
Just like a few weeks ago.
2 @ Loosehead:
If, if if……………………………………………………………………
And if the SA Side doesn’t play the “right” tactics, doesn’t pick the right team, don’t hold onto the passes etc etc etc, this VERY ORDINARY bunch of Aussies could well end up winning again.
Everything points to the SAFFAS winning, but eish, selections, form and the full frontal lobotomies could well transpire against them.
@ Scrumdown:
@ Loosehead:
So what is the right tactics and right team for this game? What is the weakness of this very ordinary Aussies? How will you approach it if you were the coach?
4 @ leon:
I’ve never professed to be a coach, so can’t comment on what the “right” tactics are.
All I can say is that the tactics employed thus far in the Rugby Championship have not exactly set the world on fire. Won 1, Drawn 1, Lost 2. So if the tactics employed are deemed “acceptable”, then it must be the execution that’s not right. If the tactics are at fault, then surely it should be “back to the drawing board”
To what can one attribute the poor execution? If a player (or group of players) continually underperform, how long should he / they be given to “refind” form? Likewise the coaching “team”.
The Aussies were resoundly beaten by the AB’s and have since lost their first choice halfbacks. If you were to pick a world 15, how many of this touring Aussie squad would you include in that side, compared to how many of the SA side?
If the coach has preconceived ideas about what size, shape, physcological makeup, tactical influences etc make up a “Springbok”, and is not prepared to deviate from those preconceptions, then I’m afraid that SA will always be ranked below the AB’s in world Rugby.
@ Scrumdown:
You don’t have to have superstars to be great team. I think Oz is not as bad as everybody makes them out to be. They lost badly against NZ, but thats what you get when you try to play NZ style rugby against NZ.
You don’t change a style in such a short time. Heyneke learned that the hard way in 2002. He knows what it takes to win and what players he need for his game plan.
6 @ leon:
So what do you ascribe the lack of success to? (For HM and the SA team of course. He has carte blanche on who he picks, as well as his game plan.)
Is his game plan still applicable to international success?
Personally I don’t give a rat’s ass if the Boks get given a 40 point hiding week in and week out, but there are many here on RT that do.
@ Scrumdown:
Lack of game time together as a team. The team is not gelling yet. They still have to think about and try to adapt to each other. This is why they make “unforced errors” the whole time.
This will get better with each game they play together. I think they will start clicking with the end of year tour.
Yes, I believe HM got the game plan to dominate world rugby. I believe that with HM and Rassie, SA will dominate world rugby.
is Rassie still around?
@ Just For Kicks:
As I understand, he is busy setting up structures so that all provinces and franchises can work together towards bok success.
@ leon:Heard an interview on O2V with Tank Lanning where Dobson said (tongue in cheek, I am sure) that Rassie was hiding from the public, waiting for the fallout, then going to step forward and put his own people in place (likes on Nienaber, etc). Listen to it on Front Row Grunt – http://www.frontrowgrunt.co.za/2012/09/a-chat-with-dobson-and-armand/
@ Just For Kicks:
Hope this isn’t so, and they can work together.
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