- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The 2013 Wallabies squad of 25 that will take on the touring British and Irish Lions has been announced, with code-hopping Israel Folau called up, while Quade Cooper has missed out – at this stage.
Six more players will be added to the squad following initial Lions Tour matches against the Western Force and Queensland Reds.
Quade Cooper may get his chance, depending on his performance for the Reds in this game.
Tatafu Polota-Nau (broken arm) and George Smith (knee) suffered injuries overnight which have all but ruled the pair out of the Lions Tour, which commences in Australia on the 5th of June, after a Barbarians clash in Hong Kong on June 1st.
The squad includes three debutants – Brumbies pair Ben Mowen and Christian Lealiifano, while NSW fullback Israel Folau gets the call-up.
The squad will assemble in Sydney on June 2nd, and will have three weeks before the first clash between Australia and the Lions on June 22nd.
“That time will be critical,” said Deans.
“You only have to look back to the experience in 2001, where Australia lost the first Test, to see the consequence of a compromised preparation. We have our own more recent experience of something similar.
“Rod Macqueen [the 2001 Wallabies coach] has since made it clear that despite the build-up they had, which included a warm up game; they were caught short in that opening game.
“We have to make the most of the limited preparation time we have in place in order to avoid a similar result.”
No captain was announced.
“It wasn’t an easy group to finalise, and there were a lot of hard phone calls made last night and this morning,” said Deans.
“Today is not the end of it for players who haven’t been named. There are six more places to be filled in the squad while every Super Rugby player in Australia will have the opportunity to play international rugby against the Lions during the tour matches, as will the country representative players. It’s an exciting time.”
More to come.
Initial squad for the 2013 British and Irish Lions Tour:
Player
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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.