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Judging by the cheeky grin on Scott Prince’s face, you get the feeling he knew he was playing in tonight’s World Cup clash long before this afternoon.
Prince was officially named to replace Johnathan Thurston as Kangaroos halfback just hours before Australia’s 52-4 win over England, Thurston ruled out with a shoulder injury which had been bugging him all week.
“I had a feeling all week, it was pretty well documented that Thursto was under a bit of an injury cloud and I had to be prepared just in case,” Prince said.
“It was unfortunate for him but very fortunate for me.”
Prince made every post a winner with a polished display, the only sign of any lack of cohesion in the nine-tries-to-one romp was when he ran into Paul Gallen is a miscued backline play.
His performance was capped with eight goals from ten attempts, some from wide out, the Gold Coast skipper hopeful of another chance to show his wares against Papua New Guinea on Sunday night.
“We’ll have to wait and see, but I’m pretty happy with the way I played and overall I think it was a great team performance,” Prince said.
Thurston is likely to be available for selection against the Kumuls, though Prince may win a reprieve with Australian coach Ricky Stuart vowing to give the peripheral players in a the squad a run at Dairy Farmers Stadium.
Stuart said he was delighted with how Prince had slipped into the team’s pattern of play, particularly his combination with halves partner Darren Lockyer.
“He hasn’t played with Darren for a while … he directed us around the park very well when Darren went off and I’ve been very impressed with Scott’s attitude in training,” Stuart said.
“He’s a thorough professional – the guy just loves his footy.”
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