Wednesday 23 October 2024 #016
Good morning G&GRs, and welcome to Wednesday’s Rugby News. I’m backing up for a second effort this week, and keen to get stuck in. Pretty much all Australian coverage today with some updates about the Wallaroos and the Wallabies and Australia XV after the squad announcement yesterday. To be fair to Hoss and the readers who commented, Hoss did post the squad announcement yesterday, but it is the major Wallabies article of the so we are running it again today.
Wallaroos
We know that the Wallaroos really turned the corner in terms of putting quality performances on the field, winning their first major trophy (WXV2) and qualifying for the 2025 World Cup in the process.
The draw for the World Cup was out earlier in the week and this saw the Wallaroos drawn in Pool A with England, the USA and Samoa. The schedule is out as shown in the image below and I have a positive spin on the draw. Everyone expects England to win all of their games so it’s simple, beat the other two teams and qualify for the quarter finals. There’ll be plenty to discuss about the Wallaroos ahead of the WC as a number of Sevens players have expressed an interest in playing 15s and having a crack at the Wallaroos squad for the World Cup.
Wallabies and Australia XV
As Hoss reported here yesterday, the squads for the Wallabies grand slam tour and the Australia XV tour were announced on Tuesday and there were a few surprises in terms of omissions and inclusions.
The squads are listed below, but it’s worth noting the 13 players that were listed as being unavailable due to injury or personal reasons. The unlucky bakers dozen were:
- Kurtley Beale (Achilles)
- Charlie Cale (shoulder)
- Filipo Daugunu (leg)
- David Feliuai (family reasons)
- Lalakai Foketi (suspension)
- Alex Hodgman (family reasons)
- Harry Johnson-Holmes (Achilles)
- Bayley Kuenzle (knee)
- Rob Leota (calf)
- David Porecki (family reasons)
- Tim Ryan (ankle)
- Blake Schoupp (shoulder)
- Liam Wright (shoulder)
People will have different views on the merits, or lack of, for those players. I think the players that I would’ve liked to see picked are Liam Wright and Charlie Cale. For all of the injured players, I hope that the time at home lets them continue to recover and rehab and get a better start to season 2025.
Wallabies Squad
Impressions from this guy
Not a huge number of surprises there, disappointed to see Liam Wright and Charlie Cale miss out, until I saw that they were injured. I’m excited to see Samu Kerevi back in the mix as I think he adds a genuine point of difference in the backline. I’m not surprised to see Suaalii, given the investment, and I assume that the coach wants to have him close to the squad and he’ll get on the paddock come game day. Hopefully Harry Potter goes well, and gets some meaningful game time.
With 34 players in the squad and four games, it’s easy to see how most of the forwards will get some time on the field, rather than being there for opposed training sessions, particularly with the physical nature of home nations rugby. Within the backs, it’s easier to see a starting line-up from the recent test matches, I think Paisami makes way for Kerevi, and unless the squad really rotates, a few of the players might spend more time holding tackle bags than they’d like.
Are there any surprises, or strong opinions on the squad? Be sure to let us know in the comments below. Also, what do you all think a pass mark for this tour is? Two wins, three wins, or is nothing short of the grand slam what you demand?
Australia XV
My Impressions
With a squad of 30 players for two games it feels like everyone will get some game time.
There’re obviously a lot of new faces and players who won’t have played a lot of games together, so hopefully they can settle into the tour quickly and get a couple of wins. It’s great reward for Harry Hoopert, who has had a torrid time with injuries, and I hope he can put that behind him and go well. There are certainly are some very good players in this squad who would look at home in the Wallabies squad.
Given the quality of this squad and the games against the Bristol Bears and England A, should we be aiming for two good victories, or is that ambitious?
That’s a wrap for this week
That’s it for me this week, thanks for reading twice, and look forward to the comments section. Over to you G&GRs.
