The young gun and the old head: Adam Ashley-Cooper set for mentoring role at World Cup
Adam Ashley-Cooper has been described as a perfect mentor for the likes of boom midfield back Jordan Petaia, with Michael Cheika confident he has an ideal blend of Wallabies to contest the Rugby World Cup.
Midfield backs Ashley-Cooper and Petaia – the oldest and youngest players to feature in any Australian World Cup squad – captured most attention when Cheika unveiled his 31-man group in Sydney on Friday.
Boasting an Australian tournament-record 45 caps per player, Cheika’s Test-hardened group features three centurions in Ashley-Cooper, halfback Will Genia and prop Sekope Kepu. Two others poised to raise three figures in Japan are captain Michael Hooper and lock Rob Simmons.
Ashley-Cooper, 35, is the most venerable and had been widely regarded as a long shot at joining George Gregan as the only four-time World Cup Wallabies.
Cheika revealed the 118-Test veteran was selected because he shaped as a perfect sounding board for uncapped 19-year-old Petaia and more than half the squad who will be making their global tournament debut.
“If you look at the composition of the squad, 18 have never been to a World Cup,” Cheika said.
“We’ll definitely be looking at those other 13 to have an impact. That little bit of extra experience makes younger players who haven’t been there feel comfortable enough to express themselves and go for it.
“Players like Ashley-Cooper help that happen. I’m big on the complementary nature of teams.”
Cheika said Petaia had been on his radar for 18 months and the gifted Queensland attacker came close to earning a first Test cap last year.
The teenager suffered a serious foot injury in early March and has needed recent club rugby to prove his fitness.
Twelve of the squad were involved in the 2015 campaign when Australia defied the odds by reaching the final at Twickenham, where they lost to the All Blacks. Seven of those players were also at the 2011 tournament.
A born-again James O’Connor attended 2011 but missed 2015.
O’Connor is among a jam of midfield backs announced by Cheika. Nine of his squad have started a Test at inside or outside centre and Petaia is poised to become the 10th.
He has also named a full complement of three hookers and four locks, leaving other positions thin on numbers.
There are just two halfbacks – Will Genia and Nic White – with Cheika unwilling to reveal who else could be converted as cover for the specialist role.
Among just five loose forwards is veteran David Pocock who hasn’t played since March because of injury.
Notable absentees include fullback Tom Banks, halfback Joe Powell, hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau and flankers Liam Wright and Luke Jones, who will work with the squad as train-on players at a 10-day preparation camp in New Caledonia.
Cheika described phone calls to omitted players as “emotional” but praised their willingness to contribute.
“You feel guilty for leaving them out but you’re so excited and proud that your players will give you everything, even when you deliver them news that will really affect them.”
The Wallabies have a final hitout against Samoa in Sydney on September 7, two weeks out from their opening group game against Fiji in Sapporo. The other pool opponents are Wales, Uruguay and Georgia.
AAP
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
26 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments