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Another Irish-based Aussie winger is following in the footsteps of Ireland star Mack Hansen, and Dave Rennie has been urged to call him up before it’s too late.
While Hansen went from the fringes at the Brumbies to become an Ireland regular, his club teammate at Connacht, John Porch, could be destined for a similar trajectory.
Hansen scored two tries in the weekend’s United Rugby Championship win over Scarlets but Connacht DOR coach Andy Friend – the former Brumbies and Australian 7s head coach – was raving about the performance of Porch – who dealt expertly with defusing high kicks and was excellent in attack.
Friend was also excited about his kicking game and defensive ability.
“How he is not in that Wallabies set-up is amazing to me,” said Friend, who worked with Porch while in charge of Australia’s Sevens team.
“He is an incredible talent. We know we can put him at full-back, he can play on the wing, his high ball stuff is excellent and he has really worked on his kicking game.
John Porch. (Photo by Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)
“He is elusive with the ball, brave in defence, all things you want from a bloke. He’s delivering that. He’s been outstanding for us.”
Porch is in his fourth season with Connacht. He was previously with Northern Suburbs and Sydney Rays in the XV man game and was a member of the Australian Sevens squads at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Australia A recently played in Japan with two wingers with a Sevens pedigree in Dylan Pietsch and Mark Nawaqanitawase with the latter winning a call-up for the northern tour.
Friend said Porch could be destined for an Ireland jersey if not wanted by the Wallabies.
“He’d have to have this season and one more, then he would become eligible to play for Ireland,” said Friend.
“He loves it here, you can see that in the way he plays his rugby. He and his wife Ella have settled here now and the way he’s playing his footy, he’s enjoying himself.”
George Gregan says he has no issues with former wallaby Jack Dempsey changing allegiance to Scotland and expects him to make an impact for his new nation.
Dempsey last played for the Wallabies in 2019 and under fresh regulations now qualifies for Scotland due to his time out of the international arena and his family ties. His grandmother is Scottish.
While Dempsey has been struggling with injuries, he is still in the frame to face the Wallabies on Sunday morning AEDT.
“I was around the Wallabies in 2019 and he was part of that squad,” Gregan told The Scotsman newspaper.
“He’s an explosive player, a great athlete, and brings a lot of physicality to any team he plays in. There will be players in that Wallabies squad who will be aware of what he can bring to a match in terms of his skillset.”
Dempsey has excelled at Glasgow Warriors since joining from the Waratahs in 2021 and is eager to make the Scotland team for the World Cup.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Asked about the validity of the rule change and its spirit – many fans believe it should only be used to allow players from tier 1 nations to move back to countries of their heritage – Gregan said: “It’s there, isn’t it? If he’s changed circumstances whereby he wants to live the rest of his life, or a good chunk of his life, in Scotland and represent them, then I get that.
“I don’t have any real qualms about that.
“I think we’ve seen it in the past. I played against Shane Howarth [who was representing New Zealand] in 1994 but by 1999 he was playing for Wales, so it’s not as though it hasn’t been done before.”
Leicester Fainga’anuku is the latest withdrawal from the All Blacks squad for the Test against Japan on Saturday citing family reasons.
Assistant coach Scott McLeod said it was unclear if he would rejoin the squad before the All Blacks head to Europe for Tests against Scotland, Wales, and England, with a decision to be made soon on a possible replacement.
The team is already missing the Barrett brothers who stayed in New Zealand when the squad left due to the death of their grandmother, Mary Barrett.
Sam Whitelock and Will Jordan both have “inner ear issues” and will miss the Japan Test.
“We’ve got an outstanding group that’s here and all very keen,” McLeod said. “We’ve just come off the training field. Everyone’s really keen, so we’re just working with that energy.”
Brodie Retallick also brushed off the list of absentees.
“The word disruption has not been talked about,” he said. “It’s not a disruption in our eyes.
“If we were to lose three players on a Friday afternoon before heading into Saturday Test I guess we would call it a disruption.”
Retallick said the All Blacks were expecting a fast tempo from their hosts in Tokyo. A virtual Test strength Japan A side recently beat Australia A 52-48 in a crazy tour match that involved 15 tries.
“We will back our fitness to stay with them, if not take the tempo earlier,” said Retallick.
“A lot of our focus has gone on our set-piece. If we nail our set-piece, and our carry and clean, we’ll be able to retain the ball, and that’s when the opportunities happen.”
England forward Rosie Galligan has warned the Wallaroos that the World Cup favourites have yet to show their full range of skills in the pool matches.
Australia have the toughest ask of the quarterfinals on Sunday when they face a team that has won their last 28 games and is fresh off the 75-0 defeat of South Africa.
Galligan, who scored a hat-trick of tries, told the BBC: “We definitely have things in the locker.
“It is just choosing when and where we will use them. It is a marathon, not a sprint.
“We don’t want to showcase everything we have yet but in the quarter-finals, we know we are going to have to do something a bit different. What it is, I am not going to tell you.”
Galligan will be teammates with Australian trio Emily Chancellor, Bella McKenzie and Kaitlan Leaney at Harlequins after the tournament.
“I have been sussing them out!” said Galligan.
“I was really excited to hear we were going to be playing them rather than your usual teams that we play throughout the year. I know that they are going to offer something different.”
Owen Farrell is one of three withdrawals from the England squad for their training camp after sustaining a concussion.
The former captain and star flyhalf took a knee to the head during Saracens’ win over Exeter on Saturday.
Jonny May (elbow) and Henry Arundell (foot) also pulled out after suffering injuries at the weekend.
As a result, Sale wing Tom Roebuck has been called up to the England squad for the first time while Newcastle wing Adam Radwan and Exeter centre Henry Slade also make a return to Eddie Jones’ squad.
England play Argentina on 6 November, followed by fixtures against Japan, New Zealand and South Africa.
Last week, it was announced Courtney Lawes would not join the camp as he continues to recover from concussion suffered a month ago.
World player of the year Antoine Dupont will captain France in the three November Tests, including one against the Wallabies, the French Rugby Federation announced on Tuesday AEDT.
Dupont, 25, led the side to this year’s Six Nations Grand Slam with regular skipper Charles Ollivon out injured.
Ollivon was then given the role by head coach Fabien Galthie for July’s two Test wins over Japan with Dupont rested for the tour.
Earlier in the day, uncapped tight-head Reda Wardi was ruled out of next month’s games after being shown a red card for a high tackle on Dupont in La Rochelle’s loss at Toulouse on Sunday.
Wardi has been replaced by Lyon’s Jerome Rey, who has yet to win a cap.
(With AFP)