Australia has lost a club vs country battle with the Japanese employers of Samu Kerevi and Sean McMahon, with both players now out of the spring tour, along with injured Reece Hodge.
Coach Dave Rennie confirmed the absence of Kerevi and McMahon, while said Hodge’s pectoral injury suffered against Japan was severe enough for him to miss the three European Tests.
Quade Cooper meanwhile wasn’t on the plane to Europe and he is no certainty to be released by Kintetsu Liners for the three Tests even though Australia has the right to call him up under World Rugby regulations.
Rennie said further meetings would have to take place with Cooper as a potentially fractious situation develops between the Wallabies and their playmaker.
“Right from the start the boys wanted the blessing of the club to tour,” Rennie said of Kerevi and McMahon.
“In Samu’s been away from Suntory for a while, they’re in preseason now and a competition that starts in January. They’ve always been positive about being back in the environment, keen to be a Wallaby, and we felt if they got the blessing of the club to tour they would tour.
“We left on Sunday, the Japanese boys stayed in Japan based on reg nine and they met the club on Monday and informed us they would not be travelling.”
Rennie said he felt the players made the decision because of “a bit of pressure on them to win. They’ve got a number of players away with the Japanese national team and they wanted those guys around to help preparation and pre-season.
“We were disappointed obviously, Samu in particular had played five Tests, been excellent on and off the field. I know these boys have loved their time in the environment.
“In Quade’s case and Samu they’ve been away for quite a long time. Obviously Sean spent less time in our environment. They did mention when we were at Royal Pines that they were nervous at how their clubs would respond to them touring and they were keen to get their blessing to do that.”
Kerevi has been suffering an ankle injury, but Rennie declared he would be fit for the Scotland Test. McMahon left Australia early from the domestic campaign to attend to a family issue.
After beating Japan last weekend Rennie, was directly asked by The Roar if Cooper would be on the plane that left Sunday. His answer was an emphatic “yes”.
But Rennie has admitted Cooper did not travel with the team.
“We spoke with Quade this morning. He with club, and we’ve got a meeting with them tomorrow,” he said.
Rennie was asked if Cooper’s absence could affect his long term prospects of playing more games for the Wallabies.
“The situation’s been a bit different this year, with a bit of leeway from the board,” Rennie said.
“There’s no doubt the board have talked about the importance of people making themselves available consistently to be a Wallaby. What happens beyond this year, all we know is the plan this year, and the plan was we could pick some players from over here to allow us to leave some boys home.
“It’s in its infancy from a Wallaby perspective. The Argentinians, South Africans, pick most of their squad out of Europe and I guess clubs sign those players knowing they’re going to lose them at various times of the year.
“It’s potentially a complication at the moment that could remedy itself over time. We’ll get together with the board to get an indication of where to from here.
The availablity issue has been bubbling below the surface for weeks. Australia has every right to call up the players, but Rennie has stated his mindfulness at striking an accord with Japanese clubs.
The withdrawals and Hodge’s injury has left the team with 32 of the initial 37.
“We’re a little bit thin, especially with Hodgey looking like he’s going to be out long term so we’ll certainly be looking for replacements,” Rennie said.
He said contact had been made with Kurtley Beale.
“We’ve made contact with Kurtley, and we’ve had conversations with Kurtley over a period of time, he’s made it really clear his desire to be a Wallaby again and with the introduction of some of the guys he played with previously he was pretty excited by that. We had a conversation yesterday around that.
“We’ll need more than one. But we’ve got to get board approval to get more overseas-based players because our preference is not to drag guys overs from Australia.”
Rennie accepted the planning could have been better.
“Yep, you’re probably right. Covid’s thrown a lot of curveballs at us. It’s disappointing. They’re guys we’ve really enjoyed in our environment and we were keen to get a bit more out of them. They’ve made their call based on the desire of the clubs and we’ve just got to get on with things.”
RA chief executive Andy Marinos was disappointed to learn of Kerevi and McMahon’s decision to withdraw several weeks after they initially told Wallabies staff they would take part in the tour.
“From our side, it’s hugely disappointing,” Marinos told the Sydney Morning Herald. “It’s disappointing for the fact that we’ve backed these players, in terms of giving them another opportunity.
“We just expected a more honest approach, right from the beginning, if it was not their intention to travel.
“If there was an inclination they were not going to tour, we would have appreciated it a lot earlier. At the time, when they were told they were going to be selected on that tour.”
BeastieBoy
Roar Rookie
The CLOWN Show also known as RUGBY AUSTRALIA rolls on continuing to destroy our game in Australia!
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Take your point on RA, but I worry about the loyalty of these players. It leaves a bad taste.
Hunters
Roar Rookie
Just to be clear. Whether you like him or not, the reason I left Beale out of the comment above is that he looks more like a FB than flyhalf to me. Better in open field play than directing the whole team around. (Was probably brilliant at flyhalf against the school kids when at Joey's. That was then...)
Hunters
Roar Rookie
Understandably a lot of talk about the loss of Kerevi. But there are players in the team who have a had a chance to improve and work together 11-14. Not ideal but not a complete loss. Could be a much bigger deal not to have an experienced, mature back-up at 10. No Hodge, no Cooper, no Lolesio. Logistical problems with players currently in Aust. I'd be trying to get people like Isaac Lucas and or Zack Holmes into camp to see how/if they can fit in. JOC is not young and even if he were, injury is always possible. They look desperately thin at flyhalf.
JC
Roar Rookie
Not true, TJ. I wrote a long Roar piece a few months ago about why players had to chose the gold jersey or overseas riches, not both. It was RA’s decision to invite these players back, and RA who should have pulled up their big boy pants and been decisive about excluding players who were clearly between a rock and a hard place (club v country). Hopefully a lesson learned.
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Your defence of these players is worrying if we think the gold shirt should be treated in such a fashion.
Reds Harry
Roar Rookie
So I read Georgina Robinson's piece in the SMH today and took away two things from her account of the debacle with the players and RA surprised by how annoyed and even disgusted the average fans are (Cheika Mate below is a good example) ... 1) agent Picone running for cover blaming RA and his own players and washing his hands of things, despite playing media games for weeks and 2) feelings have been hurt. Well this happens when privileged people discover actions have consequences. Was hopeful these lose-lose scenarios that Australian rugby have manufactured aplenty in the last few years (eg. Folau affair, Force axing) had come to an end, but alas it seems not. Roll on the actual rugby. Its not too late to put Harry Wilson, Noah Lolesio and Fraser McReight on the next plane to London which will leave the squad reasonably well placed IMO.
Kashmir Pete
Roar Guru
I get the irony - meant Simone :unhappy: Cheers KP
Kashmir Pete
Roar Guru
daz I was actually thinking of Simone and his combo with Len at Brums My error! Cheers KP
Kashmir Pete
Roar Guru
Scube Glad you corrected me - I was thinking Simone-Ikitau - confusing Irae with Foketi. I am pretty disappointed Simone is not on tour. I understand (?) the thinking he does not have the weight at 12 that Hunter does, for goodness me, even I am taller than HP! Cheers KP
JC
Roar Rookie
Regulation 9 requires the release of international players during Test windows. But World Rugby can’t enforce it when, publicly at least, it’s the player making himself unavailable, not the club. Both Kerevi and Cooper want to play for the Wallabies but not to the extent they will put their employment at risk. RA knew this but instead of making a difficult decision when the squad was announced, they hoped it would all work out and it hasn’t. The other thing is that Cooper and Kerevi were initially approached as cover due to the difficulty of getting replacements out of locked-down states. This was not an issue when the tour squad was being assembled.
JC
Roar Rookie
Effectively, they decided this when they went o/s, in Kerevi’s case at least. And Cooper wouldn’t have expected a recall in a million years!
JC
Roar Rookie
Exactly, and the players have to fulfil the terms of their contracts or they will be out of a job. This is nothing new in rugby — ask the PI nations — it’s just the first time it has happened to RA. But RA is responsible for the Wallabies and has left the team scrambling for cover when a decision should have been made to exclude unconfirmed players prior to the squad announcement. At least it’s a good lesson for the committee looking after eligibility rules longer term.
Cheika_Mate
Roar Rookie
I don’t if it was poor communication between all parties from the players, their clubs to wallaby management or being picky and choosey around what games as an overseas player they should play. It doesn’t matter, it’s embarrassing and a kick in the nuts to the squad players that have committed to this tour and to long suffering fans. I’ll put up my hand I’ve been a supporter at bending Gits law so theses guys can play, to play is a commitment to play in all the games your requested to play Aussie management barring injury. These conversations should have occurred months ago, not on the run now. From an old fashioned supporter who values country and jumper f@#k I’m disappointed.
Danny McGowan
Roar Rookie
You know what simple answer is, go back to picking players that stick around Aus, it means the players don't have to decide whether they should tour and probably get a lesser contract in future. I imagine if RA forced the issue Kerevi etc would simply of retired from test rugby, as they more or less had already done by signing overseas contract.
Harry Jones
Expert
Rennie playing the long game with club relations
WEST
Roar Guru
:laughing: it’s starting to look pretty silly. Imagine being an Australian player who could potentially fill that spot. Yet, get completely ignored! it would feel like you didn’t exist. Setting a dangerous Precedent for the Aussies who work hard inside Australia trying to build something.
AJ
Guest
Fair comment actually despite being so obnoxious. We should be building depth as well as trying to win games. These tours are hardly the pinnacle they used to be so why not make it developmental. If Rennie was worried then they should have been planning for alternatives.
AJ
Guest
Great post mate, get on with it Isnt Foketi on this tour? If so what for? Get him out there and make him run like a big bad mofo Otherwise get Isaac Henry in there and just burn him. He plays with joc and went to school with ikitau. Way too early but he is outstanding We obviously need one of the rookie 10’s now too. I’m a fan of Donaldson but whatever…
TJ-Go Force!
Roar Rookie
Completely unrelated comment. My comment was factually correct, there has been a huge raid on Australia's best club players from overseas clubs. Nick de Crespigny signed with Castres in Top14, Chris Talakai with Aviron Bayonnais, Ben Hughes to Green Rockets in Japan, Declan Moore to Munster. This is just from Syd Uni let alone the other clubs in Syd and Brisbane...