Skelton returns as Wallabies ring changes for France
Dave Rennie is pledging to “pick and stick” after making another raft of changes for the Wallabies’ spring tour showdown with European kings France.
But consistency at the selection table will not happen until next year, with Rennie making no apologies for tinkering with his team for the duration of Australia’s gruelling end-of-season tour.
Rennie has promoted fullback Jock Campbell, centre Lalakai Foketi, halfback Nic White and prop Taniela Tupou to start in Paris on Sunday morning (AEDT), with only one of the four changes forced upon the coach.
Tupou replaces Allan Alaalatoa, who was ruled out after showing concussion symptoms at halftime in Australia’s tour-opening 16-15 win over Scotland.
The Wallabies have only fielded the same starting XV once during Rennie’s 31-Test tenure, raising concerns his side will lack cohesion at next year’s Rugby World Cup in France.
“(For) the World Cup we’ll definitely pick and stick next year,” Rennie said on Thursd ay.
“What we’ve got to understand is we can put our best side, or try and put our best side out, every week – but that’s a struggle, playing five internationals in a row over here.
“We’ve got a hell of a lot of guys that aren’t here that we think will be part of our World Cup squad and so it is important that we give opportunity for certain guys.
“We look at our three nines; we could play one of them every week but (what) if he gets injured and doesn’t go to the World Cup and we’ve missed an opportunity over here.”
White will get his chance to start against the French, replacing Tate McDermott, with Jake Gordon coming on to the bench and promised a start next week against Italy.
“Tate was good and we expected that. He made a line break early and he got a line bend beyond that,” Rennie said.
“But it was quite noticeable when Nic White came on… the quality of his distribution, his speed to breakdown which allows to play quicker and play on top.”
Late-blooming Campbell will make his starting debut at age 27 after Tom Banks suffered an ankle injury against Scotland.
“We were keen to give Jock a start on this tour,” Rennie said.
“He’s trained with us for a number of weeks now and he’s really impressed us. He’s a really smart footballer, he’s got good feet and a good skill set.
“He’s not a kid, he’s had to work hard for his opportunity and, at 27, he’s pretty mature, so we reckon he’s ready to go.”
Foketi’s inclusion at No.12 has relegated Hunter Paisami to the bench.
“Lalakai, he’s been excellent this year. He had a massive year for for the Waratahs,” Rennie said.
“He’s a bigger body, he’s got good feet, a very good skill-set and we think that’ll be important this week.”
Chasing back-to-back wins for the first time in 13 months, the erratic Wallabies face a huge test of their credentials against the second-ranked Les Bleus.
France are riding a 10-match winning streak, with Europe’s reigning Six Nations champions last tasting defeat 16 months ago in the series-deciding Test against Australia in Brisbane.
In other personnel changes, France-based lock Will Skelton and utility back Reece Hodge come on to the bench.
WALLABIES: Jock Campbell, Andrew Kellaway, Len Ikitau, Lalakai Foketi, Tom Wright, Bernard Foley, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Michael Hooper, Jed Holloway, Cadeyrn Neville, Nick Frost, Taniela Tupou, David Porecki, James Slipper (capt). Reserves: Folau Fainga’a, Matt Gibbon, Tom Robertson, Will Skelton, Pete Samu, Jake Gordon, Hunter Paisami, Reece Hodge.
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 Go to comments