PARIS – Eddie Jones is set to resist making any changes to his 33-man World Cup squad despite a couple of minor injuries to his props and a knock to the elbow of fullback Andrew Kellaway.
Nor will the goal-kicking concerns plaguing the Wallabies spring any last-minute surprises either.
But The Roar can reveal that tight-head prop Pone Fa’amausili is currently battling a calf injury, which is expected to see him miss at least the Wallabies’ World Cup opener against Georgia on September 9 in Paris.
He isn’t the only prop under an injury cloud, with James Slipper (foot) also in doubt for the Wallabies’ opener against the fast-improving European nation.
The news appears better for Kellaway, who came off late in the Wallabies’ 41-17 loss to France with an arm issue suffered midway through the second half at a breakdown, with the fullback’s elbow expected to be fine after copping a knock.
Yet, with 17 Australian players across the English Channel preparing for a Barbarians and others, including Pete Samu about to commence their careers in France, Jones won’t have to bring a player out from the cold on the other side of the planet if they are required.
Jones on Sunday said many of his players were holding on, having been put through a gruelling in-season pre-season that head coaches typically include in their programs ahead of World Cup campaigns.
“I wouldn’t think so at this stage,” Jones said, when asked on Sunday following his side’s defeat to France if there would be any last-minute changes ahead of Monday’s deadline.
“We’ve been going through a tough training period as the boys know, so everyone’s right on the edge at the moment.
“We’ll have one more week of hard training in Saint Etienne and then we’ll ease off a bit for the Georgia game.
“We’ve got a few blokes right on the edge but, at this stage, I couldn’t envisage the 33 being changed.”
Fa’amausili, who had his best performance in a gold jersey when he started against the All Blacks earlier this month, is one of those players who picked up an injury at training since arriving in Paris.
It meant the giant tight-head prop wasn’t considered for selection against France in their final match before the World Cup gets underway.
While Slipper, who was wearing a moon boot at the end of last week, also struggled to run.
Both players will likely have important roles to play for the Wallabies, with Slipper’s experience invaluable and Fa’amausili’s size and explosiveness highly valued by Jones.
Backs Samu Kerevi and Max Jorgensen, who were injured at the time Jones named his squad in Darwin earlier this month, are making strong progress too.
“Kerevi should be right for the first game,” Jones said.
“He did a full session yesterday, so we expect him to be right.
“Jorgensen is coming along really well. He just looks younger every time I see him. I’m a bit worried about his age, whether he’s 13 or 18 because I don’t think we can play 13-year-olds. He’s coming along really well.”
Nor is Jones panicking about his goal kicking options.
After missing crucial penalties against the All Blacks in both Bledisloe Tests, Carter Gordon’s kicking woes were exposed at the Stade de France.
Gordon missed two penalties first half conversions and left 10 points out on the field.
His struggles from the kicking tee have only heightened the scrutiny surrounding Jones’ decision to drop Quade Cooper and leave James O’Connor and Bernard Foley, as well as halfback Ryan Lonergan, out of the squad.
Lonergan kicked four goals, including two penalties, during Australia A’s 30-17 win over Portugal on Saturday – 24 hours before the Wallabies’ loss to Les Bleus at Stade de France.
While Foley won’t play for the Barbarians because of his contract with Kubota in Japan, Lonergan and O’Connor have both been selected in the famous club’s side to face Northampton Saints this weekend.
They have been joined by more than a dozen other Australian-based players, including Lachlan Lonergan, Harry Johnson-Holmes, locks Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Cadeyrn Neville and Josh Canham, back-rowers Lachie Swinton, Seru Uru and Harry Wilson, and backs Hunter Paisami, Dylan Pietsch and Tom Wright.
Props Tom Lambert and Sam Talakai, hard hitting back Filipo Daugunu and former Australian sevens player Lachie Anderson are the other Australian featuring in the squad.
Jones could also return to Samu, as well as other French-bound players Folau Fainga’a and Reece Hodge, if injury strikes.
After missing out on World Cup selection, Samu and Fainga’a also featured for Australia A.
Samu played the entire 80 minutes and looked set to finish his career in gold with a try but was mowed down just short of the tryline after a 75 metre runaway effort.
“I did think I was going [to get a try],” Samu said following the match. “Probably a few too many baguettes this week probably slowed me down there. But it was good fun”.
Samu, who featured against South Africa but was left out against Argentina before being axed entirely, said he was left surprised and disappointed to miss World Cup selection for the second straight tournament.
“Pretty disappointing. I quickly parked that and lucky enough to get the opportunity to wear the gold jersey. Obviously. it’s not the main squad but anytime I get to put on the gold jersey I try to give my all.”
Samu, who said he had received little communication from Jones, said he had no regrets about making the decision to return to Australia in 2018 to chase his Wallabies dream.
“Not really. He’s going for a few of the younger boys, which was tough to take but it is what it is,” Samu said.
“It was only after that final whistle that it sort of hit me that it could potentially be my last game in the gold jersey, which was pretty sad. But I’m excited about what’s to come with Bordeaux.
“Yeah, no regrets on my decision to come back. It was always my dream to play for the Wallabies. I ticked that off. I missed out on a couple of World Cups, which was tough to take, but you’ve got to park it and moving forward.”
kgbagent
Roar Rookie
So Hooper dropped but how many years of his contract do they pay the Million Dollar man? Shortsighted contract deal at the time but consistent with RA it blew up in their faces again. Ridiculous some of these wishful signings based on hope.
TheTruth08
Roar Rookie
should be on the plane to France, Petaia should be in Qld for Pre season
Cec
Roar Rookie
I was actually asking a question and not paraphrasing hence the “?”. But happy to extrapolate. Eddie’s teams are letting in 50% more points per game this year compared to 2022 and scoring fewer points per game. As you know we’re 0% and (this is the extrapolation bit to avoid confusion) I think we’re likely to go 2-7 or 3-6 for 2023. That’s between 22-33%. “But she’ll be right mate :laughing:. Just give me two, no four more years mate” :thumbup:
East Coast Aces
Roar Rookie
wow that's incredible if true
Footy Franks
Roar Rookie
Anyone who’s played rugby including Eddie knows you need a goal kicker. So either White or Donaldson starts.
AgainAgain
Roar Rookie
There is always chatter and that got even worse in 1999 when he was virtually carrying the AB side, but coaches, selectors and most people I know had faith and belief in the big guy. He had done the hard yards to get there. They made him play a full season of sevens under super coach Gordon Tietjens to get his fitness up, which peeved him as he thought he should have been in the AB squad sooner, so by the time he played in SA he was a weapon. So while he was a rising star he was already established as the starting wing in the eyes of the people who mattered. I remember seeing him in a trial match a couple of years earlier at Mt Smart and they had him playing in the forwards (horrible ground to watch rugby), but even then he was doing the damage, so it was only a matter of time. After being kicked to sevens and blowing that apart, he returned well and truly ready. He was a bit wobbly in his couple of tests as you suggest, but Jonah in beast mode when he got fired up, that brings a tear to my eyes thinking about it. He would eat little Max Jorgensen up in a New York minute :happy: .
Ken Catchpole's Other Leg
Roar Guru
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Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Well with the wallaby squad and Aus A squad, Eddie effectively has...
jameswm
Roar Guru
He'd be very close to making every team's run on side.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Quade is something like 60%. Gordon is 0%. On that basis surely you go with Cooper?
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
"Everybody" wasn't. A small number were.
Adam
Roar Guru
But he's world standard. Sure he might not make every single country's run on side, but he'd be in just about every nations 33
ScottD
Roar Guru
He certainly was that, however there were questions being asked about his selection prior to the tournament starting and whether his selection kept out better players. His performance dealt with those questions ???? To be honest, I don’t think Max J is a weakness in the Australian team. I think his eventual selection is pretty much accepted by everyone, it is just whether he should have been selected in this RWC team. I can’t think of any other unselected player that was hands down in every respect a better selection. I don’t have the same feeling on some of the other selections. For example I think failure to select Pete Samu may be regretted at some point and I still have a concern over our props (but I don’t have a real solution to that one).
ScottD
Roar Guru
Nehe Milner-Scudder was one of those and I think he worked out ok didn't he?
ScottD
Roar Guru
JL was there as an acknowledged rising star but there were still question marks over him in some aspects of his game (positioning and defence). However he put those questions to bed in about 5 minutes once he got to SA – but at selection time there were still some people questioning his selection.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
Didn't deny it? Was he asked it?
ScottD
Roar Guru
Maybe.
ScottD
Roar Guru
No he didn't mate.
ScottD
Roar Guru
Pete Samu didn't deny it when Eddie said it publicly and there's nothing in Pete's interview that suggests Eddie was not being factual. I recognise it doesn't fit your narrative to acknowledge that.
Train Without A Station
Roar Guru
That a person who has lied is likely to lie again?