- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Quite a lot has been written about the recent Wallaby squad selection which did not take up the option of including several of Australia ’s young rising stars. Coach John Connolly has been singled out for a considerable amount of criticism but is it justified?
In the history of the rugby world cup how many young players have actually flourished when dropped in the deep end?
1987
One year prior to this tournament New Zealand was forced to blood a host of young players under the ‘Baby Blacks’ banner whilst the majority of the regular team toured South Africa as the Cavaliers. This initiation served players like Sean Fitzpatrick and Joe Stanley well as the team recovered from defeat against Australia to go on and win the Cup. However one player whose debut was delayed until the first game of the tournament was to go on to become one of the rugby’s greatest players of all time – Michael Jones.
1991
Having unleashed the most talked about selection surprises of recent Wallaby history in Phil Kearns, Tony Daly and Tim Horan only 12 months earlier, coach Bob Dwyer showed his continued desire to reward promising young blood in the second world cup. Firstly he included Horan’s perfect centre partner, Jason Little and then he started the career of one of the most highly respected players of all time, John Eales. Both Eales and Little had played only a handful of tests prior to the first game and both went on to play important parts in Australia’s first world cup success.
On the other side of the world Abdel Benazzi was barely 12 months into his international career when he was selected in France’s world cup squad. Across the channel Jason Leonard’s career was at an almost identical stage in his career when he made England’s squad.
1995
Two words – Jonah Lomu. Two more words – George Gregan. Gregan had been selected in just a total of 6 tests leading up to his selection in the World Cup team, during which time he had managed to squeeze in THAT tackle. Lomu had been selected after just 2. Fellow All Black, Andrew Mehrtens started his international career during 1995 too, going on to kick a wonderful drop goal in the tense final.
1999
Ireland chose Brian O’Driscoll to be part of their World Cup squad after the young man had played but a handful of games at international level. His current centre partner, Gordon D’Arcy, was also selected in Ireland’s squad, making his international debut off the bench against Romania.
2003
With only three games in the All Black jersey under his belt, Dan Carter, was chosen as part of the New Zealand world cup squad.
This list presents two arguments. The first is that these are not your garden variety international players we are talking about here. These blokes probably could have made their debut under any sort of pressure and no selection panel can select youngsters on the basis of similar expectation. The other is that if these blokes weren’t given a chance on the biggest of stages would they have gone on to be as good as they were. In the case of Lomu that is a fair point. Great player though he was, it was the 1995 World Cup that made him a super star and built up his aura of invincibility.
Australian rugby must sincerely hope that in a few years time someone will recompile this list and include under the 2007 heading the names Adam Ashley-Cooper and Berrick Barnes. Unfortunately there will never be a space for Lachlan Turner in such a list.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.