Nick Phipps figured it was bad news when he missed a call from Wallabies coach Robbie Deans, but the Rebels halfback was pleasantly shocked to find his first instincts were wrong.
The Melbourne star missed out on the original 25-man preliminary squad for the upcoming British and Irish Lions series, but was one of three players added on Sunday.
“To be quite honest with you, I was quite shocked,” Phipps said on Monday.
“I didn’t expect it. I was just in training, with a couple of boys and had a missed call from Robbie.
“I thought I was in trouble for something.
“I thought it was something about selection, my first instincts was maybe it was a bit of bad news, but I was really surprised to get the thumbs up.”
Asked if he was surprised that Will Genia was the only halfback named in the original squad, Phipps said: “Yeah, I can obviously think that.
“But at the end of the day, I’m not making the decisions, that’s up to the coaching staff.”
Phipps was bullish about the form of his Rebels teammate James O’Connor, who Deans has already hinted will fill the five-eighth spot for the first Test.
“He’s been good,” Phipps said.
“Early on in the season when I had him there (at five-eighth), he was great for us, he was definitely the spark that we had.
“Obviously with the little injuries he’s been out for a few weeks. Last week he blew out a few cobwebs and he’ll be all the more better for it now.”
Back rower Scott Higginbotham was still being assessed after having a scan on his dislocated shoulder, while lock Sitaleki Timani was seeing a specialist about his suspected fractured finger.
Several players didn’t train on Monday because of minor niggles, with the list containing forwards Wycliff Palu, Dave Dennis and James Slipper and winger Nick Cummins.
Back Kurtley Beale trained with the team on Monday but wore different gear as he is not part of the official squad.
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