Hugh McMeniman rules out Japan - for nowFont Size: Decrease Increase Print Page: Print Wayne Smith | May 07, 2009
Article from: The Australian
WALLABIES utility Hugh McMeniman isn't intending to say "sayonara" to Australian rugby any time soon, preferring to stay in Queensland to help with the Reds' revival than to cut short his Test career by taking a big-money offer in Japan.
While not ruling out the possibility that the money available in Japan might yet prove irresistible, the blindside flanker admitted yesterday his "gut feeling" was he would remain with Queensland in the build-up to the 2011 World Cup.
"I'd like to stay on with the young group of boys there," said McMeniman, 25, shortly after being released from hospital after ankle surgery.
"There is a feeling that next year we'll be ready to have a real good go at it. Besides, I love Queensland. It's my home state and I wouldn't play Super 14 anywhere else. I'd like to stay on with the Reds and get my 50 caps -- and then some."
Had McMeniman not been blighted by injury since 2006, he would have reached the 50-cap milestone last year. But in his five years with the Reds, he has managed only 29 of 61 games, barely 2 1/2 full seasons.
He would not be the first Queensland and Australian backrower forced by injuries to take a Japanese contract, namely Daniel Heenan.
However, McMeniman insisted he had given no thought to taking the big money while still fit enough to command it. "No, I've not thought of it like that," he said.
If anything sways him to go to Japan, it might be his close friendship with Wallabies team-mate Digby Ioane, who also is coming off contract with the Reds.
Ioane could not be contacted yesterday but Queensland officials are quietly confident both he and McMeniman will recommit to the Reds.
McMeniman still has not given up hope of taking part in this year's Tri-Nations series even though he has been told it will be another eight weeks before he can resume running.
He and Ioane, who is nursing a damaged shoulder, are among a host of injured Reds stars who will miss tomorrow night's match against the Crusaders in Christchurch.
Ioane was ruled out early yesterday, so too captain James Horwill and as the day wore on, playmaker Berrick Barnes and fullback Mark McLinden also were stood down from the match.
And then, well into the night, openside flanker Putasi Luafutu joined them on the sideline when it became evident at training his broken hand would place him at too much of a disadvantage at the best of times, let alone going up against Richie McCaw.
Coach Phil Mooney will wait until tomorrow's captain's run before deciding whether to entrust the No7 jersey to blindside specialist Scott Higginbotham or to exciting young debutant Andrew Shaw, the son of former Wallabies captain Tony Shaw.
Ironically, Shaw Super Rugby barely a fortnight ago advocated not paying the Reds if they lose.
Never in his darkest moments would Mooney have envisaged putting on to the field anything like the backline he has named to meet the defending champions, with Quade Cooper shunted to fullback, Rod Davies, Anthony Fainga'a, Charlie Fetoai and Brando Va'aulu forming the three-quarter line and Ben Lucas pairing with Brendon McKibbin in the halves.
With Higginbotham required at openside or again relegated to the bench, Ezra Taylor, the starting number eight in the past three matches, has been switched to blindside flanker, with Leroy Houston returning from the wilderness to resume duties at the back of the scrum.
But even with the Reds having to cobble together a side, recruiting Australian under-20 centre Ben Tapuai from the Gold Coast Breakers and reactivating Brothers' former Australian sevens representative Ant Sauer four years after he earned his solitary Queensland cap against New Zealand A, McMeniman still believes there is sufficient talent in the squad to trouble the Super 14 champions.
"If we play to our patterns, we're in this game," he said. "But everyone has got to buy into it. If even one person doesn't bind to that, the whole thing can fall apart."
