Link’s axe looms as doubt surrounds Genia’s position in the team

Link’s axe looms as doubt surrounds Genia’s position in the team.

Halfback Genia shapes as the big casualty because coach Ewen McKenzie beat the drum of consistency and performance so zealously on Monday when he announced 91-Test hooker Stephen Moore as the new Wallabies skipper.

Despite a scintillating man-of-the-match performance against the Highlanders last weekend, it appears it’s too little, too late. The word from within the Wallabies camp is that Ewen McKenzie favours both the Brumbies Nic White and the Waratahs Nick Phipps.

“Unluckily for me, it’s going to be a tough day at the office when we finally sort it out,” he said of some of the selection quandaries.

“That’s a good situation for the Wallabies, it’s tough on individuals, but the way performance works is that performance gets you in but it’s performance that keeps you there. So, if you get a chance, you have to deliver.”

Dropping the 55-test Genia for the second time in 10 months is still a huge call after he rediscovered his form on the November tour of Europe.

But that’s not the only headache for McKenzie, who admits the Wallabies are “playing catch-up” leading into their first test this weekend.

Wallabies captain, Stephen Moore, flanked by the co-vice-captains, Adam Ashely-Cooper and Michael Hooper

As a result, “Link” is wasting no time in assessing his squad at their Gold Coast camp, going off a combination of Super Rugby form, incumbency and instinct ahead of the team announcement later today.

“We haven’t got enough time, we have to get on with it,” he said.

“We have a finite number of training sessions and the French have been here since the middle of last week.

“They’re missing a couple of players but they still have 24 players who’ve been in camp since before they came here and they’ve been in (Australia) since the middle of last week.

“In that sense, we’re playing catch-up.”

McKenzie acknowledged the strong performances of the Waratahs and Western Force made picking the 32-man squad extremely difficult.  But said that last weekends results where the Waratahs got on top of the back-to-back champions, the Chiefs and the Brumbies dismantling the Rebels justified his selections.

“The squad we’ve picked reflects really good form across all the teams in Super Rugby, which I’m pleased about,” McKenzie said.

“Since we’ve announced the squad, it’s been confirmed to me that we picked the right guys so that will make selection really difficult.

“The team that I announce, there will be good players that will miss out.”

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Ewen McKenzie, one of the four panelists to sort through experimental law suggestions

Former Wallabies World Cup winning coach, Bob Dwyer, former international referee, Wayne Erickson, former Wallaby and current Fox Sports commentator, Rod Kafer, and current Wallabies coach and former Wallaby, Ewen McKenzie will form a short list from the suggestions submitted by the fans, which will then be put forward for a public vote.

ARU CEO, Bill Pulver thinks the panel is the perfect combination of players, coaches, referees, commentators and experience to sort through the suggestions and come up with the short list.

“Collectively, these men have more than a century of professional Rugby experience.”

“Having been involved in the game at club, Super Rugby, international and an administrative level, they all have a deep understanding of what elements are needed to create an entertaining brand of Rugby that is exciting to play, coach and most importantly watch.”

Pulver said the experimental campaign presents a terrific opportunity to look at law variations that could enhance the entertainment value of Rugby.

The social media campaign will run for three to four weeks, starting on Monday 19 May, and will be split into three phases:

1. crowd-sourcing suggestions from fans
2. shortlisting of suggestions by the panel of experts
3. public vote on the panel’s shortlist

Any proposed experimental laws must receive clearance from the International Rugby Board before they can be implemented.

Which laws would you like to see?

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James O’Connor in talks with the Reds

As senior players backed the Australian Rugby Union’s tough stance on Test eligibility, it emerged that O’Connor had piqued the interest of the struggling Reds and would most likely resume his Australian career in Brisbane next year.

Queensland Rugby Union chief executive Jim Carmichael would only say the province was open-minded about the controversial outside back, but Georgina Robinson, from Fairfax Media understands the Reds have made an offer for his services next season.

“I don’t have a closed mind on anything,” Carmichael said. “We’re working through what we would call the deficiencies we have as we speak. There’s a lot of pressure on us and we need to cop it on the chin, and just live in that pressure cooker at the moment without distracting people with who we may or may not sign.”

James O’Conner had his Wallabies contract torn up last year after a drunken run in with airport staff at Perth International Airport. In which he was escorted from the airport by the Australian Federal Police.

JOC in a Reds jersey (credit Just Rugby.)

Since then, O’Conner tried to ‘amend’ for his sins by signing with London Irish on a short-term contract and then joined fellow former Australian internationals Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell at Toulon.

It’s been reported that JOC wants to return to Australia. After talks with his former franchise, the Western Force dried up, he then turned to his former coach, Richard Graham and the struggling Reds.

ARU boss Bill Pulver revealed a Super Rugby contract was not O’Connor’s only option. Pulver said the former Force and Rebels outside back needed only to be registered to play domestically, meaning he could play a season of club rugby and be considered by national coach Ewen McKenzie at a pinch. However, that option would appear unlikely to be taken up.

Wallabies coach, Ewen McKenzie last year poured cold water on O’Connor’s World Cup hopes by suggesting that the test squad he picks this year will be his squad for the 2015 international decider.  With JOC being ineligible for Wallabies selection this year, if McKenzie holds true to his words,  there may already be no place for O’Connor in McKenzie’s World Cup plans.

Credit for images: Just Rugby News

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