An impressive comeback from a serious knee injury at a high-quality tournament in Fiji has convinced Australian selectors that Queenslander Ben Adams is ready to step up to the IRB world series next week.
The powerful 22-year-old was a standout during last week’s Uprising Sevens in Lautoka to help lift the Australian Thunderbolts to victory over Samoa in the Plate final.
Adams was set to make his mark in the eight-event worldwide series a year earlier after being identified by national selectors while playing for Brisbane club Sunnybank, but an horrific knee injury sidelined the hard-running forward for much of 2012.
But after proving his fitness in Fiji against some of the world’s top sevens players in draining humidity and with temperatures climbing to 35C, Adams is now poised to pull on the green and gold in New Zealand next Friday and Saturday.
The IRB world series recommences in Wellington almost two months since the third round in South Africa when Australia were victorious in the Bowl final.
Australian coach Michael O’Connor has named a 12-man squad, including six changes to the team taken to Port Elizabeth early in December.
Jesse Parahi, Allan Fa’alava’au, Lewis Holland and Shannon Walker all return while Tom Cusack will be making his world series debut with Adams.
“We’re welcoming a lot of players back from injury, which is a big boost,” O’Connor said.
“Experience is very important at this level. You can lose one or two players, but we basically lost our starting side to injury last year.
“The flip side is we’ve been able to bring a lot of guys in for experience.”
The squad is still without regular captain Ed Jenkins, who injured his shoulder during the Gold Coast Sevens, with O’Connor yet to decide on a captain for Wellington.
Australia have been named in Pool D alongside Portugal, Fiji and Scotland.
Australian squad: Cameron Clark, Ben Adams, Con Foley, Sean McMahon, Pama Fou, Jordan Tuapou, Allan Fa’alava’au, Tom Cusack, Will Miller, Shannon Walker, Jesse Parahi, Lewis Holland.
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