Hooper and Bennetts ruled out of Junior World Championship
Hooper and Bennetts ruled out of Junior World Championship
June 03, 2010 - 12:08pm
Story by: ARU
http://www.rugby.com.au/verve/_resou...page_image.jpg Brumbies flanker Michael Hooper is out of the Juniour World Championship
The Australian Under 20s have shown their intent with a solid 33-13 victory over host-nation Argentina in their first and only hit-out ahead of the IRB Junior World Championship which gets underway this weekend.
Australia will kick off their campaign with a pool match against Scotland in Santa Fe on Saturday (Sunday AEST) before facing off against Tonga on 9 June in Parana and then South Africa on 13 June in Santa Fe.
Queensland flanker and Australian Sevens representative Liam Gill scored a brace of tries off the bench in the team’s first run while towering lock Greg Peterson, winger Jonathan Lance and centre Tim Bennetts also found the chalk in the five-tries-to-one win at a soaked Lomas Rugby Club in Buenos Aires on Sunday.
Coach David Nucifora’s side didn’t escape the warm-up match unscathed though; with Brumbies flanker Michael Hooper (ankle) and Tim Bennetts (hamstring) sustaining injuries which have cruelly ruled out them out of the 12-nation tournament.
NSW pair, Eastwood backrower Lachlan McCaffrey and Easts outside back Damon Anderson have been called up as injury replacements and will join the U20s team in Santa Fe.
Nucifora used the warm-up match to give the majority of his 26-man squad a run but elected to start with an all Super Rugby-capped backrow in Brumbies pair Colby Faingaa and Hooper alongside Queensland Reds rising-star and Australian U20s skipper Jake Schatz.
The run-on halves pairing also boasted Super Rugby experience with Force rookie halfback Justin Turner and Brumbies playmaker Matt Toomua, who has also been given the vice-captaincy, getting the first opportunities at 9 and 10 respectively.
Nucifora said despite the injuries, game time against Argentina was extremely beneficial to his young side’s preparation ahead of Saturday’s clash with Scotland.
“We played in pretty atrocious weather conditions, it was pouring rain and it was a really muddy surface which you don’t get too often these days but it was a good experience and good preparation to get a game under our belt,” Nucifora said.
“We have some good experience in our side and we have some good depth and competition in some positions, especially through that backrow area and we still do even with Michael Hooper out injured.
“It’s just about getting game time together now, we’ve trained a lot, now it’s just about getting the actual combinations right. It’s been helpful to come over here a bit earlier but I’d expect it to take us another couple of games at least to start getting used to each other.
“We’ve worked hard enough to make sure that our performances first up will be good enough but the thing with these tournaments is not just about keeping everyone fit but also just building combinations and just trying to peak at the right time, I suppose.
“Our aim is to win everything in this pool.”
Australia will play their most difficult pool match against South Africa, who relegated Nucifora’s U20s side to fourth in a playoff for third at last year’s JWC.
“The change in competition structure this year going from 16 teams back to 12 is a bit tricky,” Nucifora said.
“It means that the two teams that finished fourth and third last year, ourselves and South Africa, are lumped in the same pool so that’s challenging but we’ve got to beat them all at some point if we’re going to win it so it may as well be in the pool games.”
Should Australia progress through their pool matches they will play a semi-final on 17 June with the final scheduled for 21 June at Estadio El Coloso del Parque in Rosario.
Australian U20 squad:
Forwards: Cruze Ah-Nau (WA), Paul Alo-Emile (QLD), Phoenix Battye (ACT), Colby Faingaa (ACT), Liam Gill (QLD), Luke Jones (WA), Salesi Manu (NSW), Gregory Peterson (NSW), Edward Quirk (QLD), Sam Roberson (NSW), Siliva Siliva (WA), Scott Sio (NSW), Jake Schatz (QLD) Lachlan McCaffrey (NSW) .
Backs: Robbie Coleman (ACT), Greg Jeloudev (NSW), Jonathon Lance (QLD), Cameron Mitchell (NSW), Dominic Shipperley (QLD), Kimami Sitauti (QLD), Aidan Toua (QLD), Matt Toomua (ACT), Luke Morahan (QLD), Justin Turner (WA), Nic White (ACT), Damon Anderson (NSW).
Individual player profiles are available online here: http://www.rugby.com.au/fixtures_res...10,130190.html
http://www.rugby.com.au/news/under_20s/2010/hooper_and_bennetts_ruled_out_of_jwc,139331.html/section/21893
