'He'll fulfil a role': Everything Rennie said on Simone shock, replacing Kerevi and the chances of a Hooper-McReight pairing

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has put a damper on hopes of playing rising star Fraser McReight alongside Michael Hooper in his Test 23, saying the 23-year old will need to ‘earn the right to play’.

Long seen as Hooper’s heir apparent in the number seven jersey, McReight’s outstanding form for Australia A in the Pacific Nation Cup has seen him named in the Wallabies’ 36-man squad for their two-Test series against Argentina to kick off The Rugby Championship.

However, in news that will disappoint large swathes of fans, the Queenslander will likely need an injury to the captain to add to his two Test caps.

Rennie also opened up on several other shock inclusions in his squad, including naming the France-bound Irae Simone and promoting another Red in Jock Campbell from the Aus A spot, as one of a number of options to fill the injury-depleted fullback spot.

Here is everything Rennie said after the Wallabies’ squad announcement to take on the Pumas.

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On shock inclusions

The greatest surprise in the Wallabies’ squad was the recall for Simone, with the 27-year old centre not considered for selection against England due to his impending move to France.

However, Samu Kerevi’s decision to prioritise playing rugby sevens for Australia at this year’s Commonwealth Games and an injury to Izaia Perese has opened the door for Simone to pull on the gold jersey for the first time since two Tests in 2020.

While Rennie dismissed rumours that Simone has changed his mind about heading to France, he said the ‘quality of his performances this year’ made him an obvious pick to fill in for Kerevi in the short term, with Lalakai Foketi also returning to the centres as expected.

“Obviously with Izzy [Perese] getting injured – he’s going to be out for the rest of the season – we’ve brought Lalakai back in, and then with Samu missing, ‘E’ was the obvious choice,” Rennie said.

“He’s a big man, carries really well, he’s got a good kicking game, and he’s been in our environment, so he can slot in pretty quickly if required.

“The thinking around ‘E’ is, he’s probably had his best season of Super Rugby. It often happens, doesn’t it, when guys are heading away.

“We didn’t consider him for the fact that he’s leaving; [but] with the injuries we’ve got, we know we’ve got to play whoever can fill a hole for us for a couple of weeks.

“He’s committed to go to France, but prepared to help us out over the next couple of weeks… with Izzy Perese out injured, he’s going to come in and just fulfil a role in the Argentinian tour, and we’ll get Samu back after that.”

Rennie downplayed the impact of losing Kerevi from the side, who was one of the Wallabies’ best in their 2-1 series loss to England. However, he urged the rest of his forwards pack to lift in his stead.

“We’ve still got good go-forward and we’ve still got quick ball,” the coach said.

“Samu’s a big man who attracts attention – we targeted Marcus Smith for Samu to challenge and try and sit down, and sometimes we’d play off that or sometimes we’d carry into contact and try and create quick ball again.

“We’ve got other guys who can still fulfil that role and we want more out of our big ball-carrying forwards. I wouldn’t say an enormous amount’s going to change in how we play or how we try and strike against Argentina.”

Rennie also defended the decision to permit Kerevi to join the sevens team, saying the need for a competitive side to challenge for a Commonwealth Games medal is ‘really important’.

“The initial talk we had a few months ago was that if we got a few injuries, maybe we wouldn’t let them go.. [but] it’s important for our country to try and send away a strong side that’s got a chance of winning a medal,” Rennie said.

“The sevens boys have been going well of late, and Samu will only add to that group. So we committed to that.”

Irae Simone. (Photo by Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images)

On fresh faces to the squad

Rennie has named four uncapped players in the squad – Reds winger Jock Campbell, Rebels prop pair Matt Gibbon and Pone Fa’amausili, and Tahs swingman Jed Holloway.

Campbell’s strong performance for Australia A was the catalyst for his call-up, with Rennie naming the 27-year old as a candidate for the fullback spot moving forward.

“He’s deceptively quick, got a really good skill set, and comfortable on the wing and at full back. I still think 15’s his best spot,” the coach said of Campbell.

“He pushed close to making our squad originally – that was the great thing about the A program, a chance to go away and play really good opposition. I thought he was excellent over there as well.

“He was a pretty straightforward choice for us.”

However, Rennie is confident he has a myriad of 15 options at his disposal, despite a calamitous run of injuries during the series against England.

After starting choice Tom Banks broke his arm in the first Test, replacements Andrew Kellaway (hamstring) and Jordan Petaia (concussion) both joined him on the sidelines as the series continued, forcing Rennie to turn to veteran Reece Hodge for the final Test.

While Kellaway will not be fit for the Pumas series, Petaia will return, while Kurtley Beale is currently in the last stages of rehabilitation from a hamstring rupture in France and has sights on an international comeback against the All Blacks. Tom Wright is also an option after deputising for Petaia during the second Test.

“It’s a position that’s competitive,” Rennie said.

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“We really rate Andrew Kellaway as a back-three player. We’re keen to have guys who can play wing and fullback in that three. Jordie’s coming back from a head knock, he’s good to go – [but] I guess any further knock from that will see him out long-term.

“I thought Tom Wright, when he got his opportunity at 15, was outstanding in the second Test. It’s exciting from that point of view, we’ve got good options. Our fullback needs to play on the wing as well, and we’ve got a fair bit of versatility there.”

Tom Banks of the Brumbies runs with the ball during the round four Super Rugby Pacific match between the Melbourne Rebels and the ACT Brumbies at AAMI Park on March 11, 2022 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Rennie also didn’t rule out Banks as a long-term fullback option, despite his impending move to Japan.

“Obviously Tom’s heading away to Japan, he could be one that we bring back next year based on what we need in the group. But in that time, maybe a Kells or a Jordie, they may have established themselves in the 15 jersey.

“We’ll allow the players to make that decision, and hopefully injury doesn’t dictate that.”

Rennie also opened up on Gibbon’s shock inclusion, a qualified electrician who was playing club rugby in Sydney just four years ago, with Angus Bell suffering a serious toe injury.

“He’s had a really good season,” Rennie said of Gibbon.

“What we know with Matt is his scrummage. I thought he was excellent for Australia A – he was an obvious choice for us to replace Belly.

“Angus Bell… I won’t even try and give you the medical term for it, but he’s ruptured the ligament under his foot. Sort of like turf toe, but the worst extreme of it. He’ll be out for about 4-5 weeks.”

The injury-prone Fa’amausili will play club rugby in Melbourne to prove his fitness before the trip to Argentina.

However, the Rebels duo will have plenty of competition for prop spots in the side, with Darcy Swain ready to return from suspension.

Rennie, though, is adamant the 25-year old, who was banned for two matches after headbutting England pest Jonny Hill, will need to fight for his spot back.

“We’ve used that extra couple of weeks to try and get a bit more work into him. He’ll be in great nick come the next Test,” Rennie said.

“From a Test selection point of view, there’s a bit of competition there now with Rory [Arnold] back, Frosty [Nick Frost] was excellent we thought, MP’s [Matt Philip] gone really well. There’s a bit of a fight for selection.”

(Photo by Mike Owen/Getty Images)

On facing Michael Cheika and cracking the Pumas

Rennie says he will resist the temptation to experiment with the Wallabies’ line-up for the two-Test series ahead of coming assignments against the Springboks and All Blacks, saying underestimating an in-form Argentina could be risky.

The Pumas, in former Wallabies coach Michael Cheika’s first tour at the helm after replacing Mario Ledesma, won a thrilling series against Scotland 2-1, their first at home since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’ll be putting out a team to win, obviously,” Rennie said.

“First game of the Championship, and important we get a result against a side that’s had a bit of success recently at home against Scotland, and will be buoyed by that.

“We’re not looking to give away Test caps, but there is still really good competition for places.”

Rennie expects the Cheika-led Pumas to be strong defensively, but will need to do further analysis to compare how different the side is playing compared to under Ledesma.

“Certainly ‘Cheik’, the team that he coached here in Australia, they wanted to keep the ball and use the ball,” he said.

“It looks like they’re kicking a bit more now than they were when he was coaching the Wallabies. They fill the field.

“I know Cheik will have a big defensive focus around that, so there’s not a lot of obvious space: most of it’s through the middle, where you’ve got to be able to group them and try and hit them on the edges.

“Certainly defensively they looked very good [against Scotland], so I’m sure he’s had an influence there.”

Michael Cheika, head coach of Argentina, catches the ball. (Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

On lessons learned from England series

Rennie described the Wallabies’ 2-1 series loss to the old enemy as ‘really frustrating’, blaming squandered opportunities on turnover for the defeat.

However, he said the result is the perfect incentive to make ‘shifts’ in the gameplan, ahead of a testing few months.

“We know we played some good footy and we create a lot of opportunities… but we did some really good things and then maybe the last bit of skill wasn’t good enough, and ended up letting us down,” Rennie said.

“That was frustrating – we missed a lot of opportunities from turnover and counter. We’ve fielded a kick, we’ve got big numbers to play, but we might have hit it up, and that’s given England time to regroup and cover the field a bit more, or cover the back-field space.

“We missed opportunities in all three Tests around counter. That’s an area we need to make shifts in. It was a hell of a Test series against a very good side, but we’re frustrated because we should have been better and we should have won it.”

Rennie was particularly disappointed with the Wallabies’ inability to deal with England’s famous kicking game, saying extensive preparation for it in the lead-up failed to bear fruit.

“We’ve put a lot of time into it over the last couple of years, so that was a disappointing part of it,” Rennie said of the series defeat.

“We knew we were going to get a lot of ball kicked to us, and if we worked hard for each other and got people in the right spots, we were confident we could hurt them.

“While we found space in counter on the weekend [third Test] and did some good things, we left a lot of opportunities on the park. That’s an area of the game that I drive, so it’s my responsibility.

“We’ve just got to be better: you get opportunities where teams turn the ball over, or they kick you ball without a quality kick-chase or kick-sprint, we’ve got to be able to identify that and hurt teams. It was an area that was pretty disappointing over the three Tests.”

Rennie wasn’t buying into rumours that England coach Eddie Jones could return to the Wallabies’ fold following the 2023 World Cup.

“I don’t know how much accuracy is in those reports anyway, so I’ll focus on what I need to be focussing on rather than speculation,” he said bluntly.

(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

On the Giteau Law

Australian rugby’s most infamous rule is again back in the spotlight due to Simone’s return from the wilderness, while the Japanese-based Kerevi’s unavailability has opened the door for Rory Arnold to return from France and provide more lock options for Rennie.

As it stands, the Wallabies are only able to name three overseas-based players at a time; but when asked whether he will need to assess which three players he names for the rest of the Championship, or apply to RA for an extra overseas option, Rennie had a cryptic response.

“One of those – or maybe both of those,” Rennie deadpanned.

“That discussion’s for post-Argentina; we obviously only used a couple of guys in the English series. With Samu going to the Commonwealth Games, we had the opportunity to bring Rory in.

“We’ll assess that [future options] once we get back.”

While Arnold remains under an injury cloud for the first Test on August 7 in Mendoza, Rennie said his familiarity with the Wallabies’ set-up, having featured in last year’s European tour, makes him an obvious choice to play if fit.

“Fair to say he hasn’t been slogging it out in the last four weeks – he’s had a bit of a holiday, picked up a little niggle. But we’re confident that he’ll tour, and we’ll make a decision on whether we think we can get the body right for that first Test,” Rennie said.

Rory Arnold. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

“We’ll see how he goes, how he turns up early next week, and the amount of work we can get into him in the next week and a half.

“Again, he’s been in our environment before, he’ll understand the structures, so it’s just a case of getting the body right.”

With the Wallabies’ second-row ravaged by injury, with Izack Rodda, Cadeyrn Neville and backup option Ned Hanigan all unavailable, Arnold may be required for the rest of the Championships following the Argentina trip as well, according to Rennie.

“We’re a little bit thin in the second row, and we’re probably one injury away from being under a bit of pressure there,” the coach said.

“We’ll bring Rory in because we can, with Samu being out, and then we need to go back to the board and have a chat around where things are at.

“Maybe there’s only three [overseas players] available anyway when it comes to the end of the Championship.”

On a McReight-Hooper partnership

While Rennie maintains that he will always consider naming McReight alongside Hooper in a Wallabies’ team, the current state of the side and the perils with picking two number sevens means it will almost certainly not be anytime soon, with Pete Samu set to be preferred as the bench backup option.

“We see Fraser as a specialist seven, ‘Hoops’ the same,” Rennie said.

“We’ve used Pete Samu off the bench. I think he’s been excellent. He’s probably been the pick of the loosies – the fact that he can play six, seven or eight gives us really good flexibility.

“At this stage we’d only pick one of those guys [McReight or Hooper]. It does limit your lineout; if you’re going to short lineouts we’re keen to have guys like Bobby Valetini carrying out the back line. A couple of sevens does limit some of your options there.

“I’m not saying we’ll never do it, but based on the cattle that we’ve got, we’d likely use someone like a Pete Samu off the bench.”

Fraser McReight of the Wallabies takes the ball up during the first Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Australian Wallabies at Eden Park on August 07, 2021 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Fiona Goodall/Getty Images)

For Rennie, there is no haste in giving McReight international exposure, to prepare him for a widely predicted transition into Hooper’s role when the captain’s glittering career ends.

In the coach’s mind, the Australia A program offers enough opportunities to face international-quality side to make it unnecessary to name McReight prematurely.

“That’s been the value of the A program – three Tests against the Pasifika teams who are at pretty much full strength. The A program’s important for that,” Rennie said.

“I’m loath to give away Test caps just to keep people happy. As we’ve seen in New Zealand, people queued up for a long time behind Richie McCaw. You’ve got to earn the right to play.

“Fraser’s been really good, and his job is to play so well that we can’t leave him out, and make us pick him ahead of Hoops.

“Sometimes it takes a bit of patience and perseverance. He’s in the squad, and who knows whether he’ll get opportunities in this camp, but we’re likely to pick one specialist seven to play in the Test.”

McReight’s future isn’t the only one which could be boosted by stardom in the Australia A set-up, with Rennie naming another Reds young gun in Josh Flook as a future Wallabies candidate.

“The more we can get into that program, the better. We had a number of guys who couldn’t play based on injury late in the Super season, and so that rep side could be even stronger, which is exciting,” Rennie said.

“You’re talking about guys like Fraser, a Josh Flook for example got injured late and will miss that whole program. It’s a real pity, because he’s a player who could definitely step up to our level in time.

“We’re excited by what we saw down there, and we’re getting guys who are going to come and have played a good amount of rugby over the last few weeks, as opposed to historically them going back and maybe playing a little bit of club.”