Cooper, Higginbotham miss out on Wallabies selection

Quade Cooper and Scott Higginbotham were left out of the Wallabies’ train-on squad as coach Michael Cheika included 11 uncapped players.

Cooper, 29, and Higginbotham, 30, missed out on selection in a 38-man squad for intensive camps ahead of the Bledisloe Cup opener against New Zealand.

A veteran of 70 Tests, Cooper featured against Italy last month, while Higginbotham played against Scotland.

Kurtley Beale, 28, was included in an Australia squad for the first time since the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

There are 11 uncapped players, with Sef Fa’agase, Adam Korczyk, Izack Rodda, Jordan Uelese, Campbell Magnay, Billy Meakes and Curtis Rona in a Wallabies squad for the first time.

“We have a lot of work to get done between now and August 19 when we play New Zealand in Sydney,” Cheika said.

“That work started in June, we tried to maintain some of that throughout the last rounds of Super Rugby and now we start to take it up a level.

“We want all of these guys to be very clear on what the trademarks are of the Wallabies game and then be equipped and ready to deliver it when asked to enter the arena for Australia, whether it’s for five minutes or the whole 80 minutes of every Test this season.

“That is what our objective will be over the next couple of weeks and I can’t wait to get stuck into it.”

No Brumbies players were included in the squad due to their participation in the Super Rugby finals.

Australia: Jermaine Ainsley, Kurtley Beale, Adam Coleman, Pek Cowan, Jack Dempsey, Kane Douglas, Sef Fa’agase, Tetera Faulkner, Israel Folau, Bernard Foley, Will Genia, Ned Hanigan, Richard Hardwick, Dane Haylett-Petty, Reece Hodge, Michael Hooper, Karmichael Hunt, Sekope Kepu, Samu Kerevi, Adam Korczyk, Marika Koroibete, Tolu Latu, Campbell Magnay, Sean McMahon, Billy Meakes, Stephen Moore, Eto Nabuli, Sefa Naivalu, Izaia Perese, Nick Phipps, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Tom Robertson, Izack Rodda, Curtis Rona, Rob Simmons, Lopeti Timani, Taniela Tupou, Jordan Uelese.