The Wallabies squad for the 2015 end of year tour has been announced, with form flanker Scott Fardy the notable omission from the squad.
Fardy has withdrawn from the squad due to knee surgery, and his absence has led to the inclusion of uncapped flanker Sean McMahon. Fellow promising Rebels platers Tom English and Luke Jones, with zero and one cap respectively, have also been included in the squad.
The tour should see the debut of Henry Speight, who has been included, and Matt Toomua returns after missing the final Bledisloe Cup match due to consecutive concussions during the Rugby Championship.
New Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said that he hadn’t had time to fully make his stamp on the squad, and the announced team was largely inherited from Ewen McKenzie’s work.
Cheika will have barely any time to prepare for the end of year tour, having been appointed today and the squad leaving on Friday, but he was confident he would be up for the challenge.
He believed there was plenty of scope to improve the team ahead of the World Cup in 2015, and this was the starting point.
“There’s a lot of players that still need to rise to their full potential and that’s the job of the coach.”
Full Wallabies squad for end of year tour
Player | State | Age | Test Caps |
Adam Ashley-Cooper | NSW Waratahs | 30 | 100 |
Ben Alexander | ACT Brumbies | 29 | 69 |
Sam Carter | ACT Brumbies | 25 | 8 |
Quade Cooper | Queensland Reds | 26 | 50 |
Tom English | Melbourne Rebels | 23 | Uncapped |
Saia Fainga’a | Queensland Reds | 27 | 32 |
Tetera Faulkner | Western Force | 26 | Uncapped |
Israel Folau | NSW Waratahs | 25 | 25 |
Bernard Foley | NSW Waratahs | 25 | 14 |
Will Genia | Queensland Reds | 26 | 55 |
Kyle Godwin | Western Force | 22 | Uncapped |
James Hanson | Queensland Reds | 26 | 5 |
Scott Higginbotham | Melbourne Rebels | 28 | 31 |
Matt Hodgson | Western Force | 33 | 9 |
Michael Hooper (c) | NSW Waratahs | 22 | 38 |
Rob Horne | NSW Waratahs | 25 | 22 |
James Horwill | Queensland Reds | 29 | 56 |
Luke Jones | Melbourne Rebels | 23 | 1 |
Sekope Kepu | NSW Waratahs | 28 | 48 |
Tevita Kuridrani | ACT Brumbies | 23 | 17 |
Christian Leali’ifano | ACT Brumbies | 27 | 14 |
Josh Mann-Rea | ACT Brumbies | 33 | 2 |
Ben McCalman | Western Force | 26 | 34 |
Sean McMahon | Melbourne Rebels | 20 | Uncapped |
Nick Phipps | NSW Waratahs | 25 | 24 |
Benn Robinson | NSW Waratahs | 30 | 69 |
Rob Simmons | Queensland Reds | 25 | 46 |
Will Skelton | NSW Waratahs | 22 | 4 |
James Slipper | Queensland Reds | 25 | 59 |
Henry Speight | ACT Brumbies | 26 | Uncapped |
Joe Tomane | ACT Brumbies | 23 | 12 |
Matt Toomua | ACT Brumbies | 24 | 19 |
Nic White | ACT Brumbies | 23 | 18 |