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In-form Western Force hooker Nathan Charles has played his way into Wallabies contention for upcoming Tests against Scotland and Wales.
And the No.2 has the perfect opportunity to further enhance his claims when he fronts up to incumbent Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau in Friday's Super Rugby showdown against the NSW Waratahs at nib Stadium.
The Wallabies open their campaign with a one-off match against Scotland in Newcastle on June 5, followed by the first of a three-Test series against the Welsh in Brisbane four days later.
Australian coach Robbie Deans has already flagged that the team to play Scotland will likely be made up primarily of players from the Force and the Queensland Reds outfits because both teams have a bye the week before the Tests start.
But Charles, 23, who has already made previous Wallabies train-on squads, said he was more focused on the Waratahs, who will be out to avenge the one-point loss they suffered to the Force in round four, than international duties.
"To be honest that (Wallabies) is the last thing on my mind. The first thing on my mind right now is the Waratahs and putting in consistently good performances week in, week out," Charles said.
"Tatafu is the No.1 hooker in Australia and possibly the world, so every time I go up against him it's a challenge.
"He is a fantastic player but it doesn't matter who you are going up against. They are the opposition and I'm going to do everything I can to nullify them."
The Force are five points behind NSW on the Australian conference table. The Tahs had a bye last week but like the Force also lost to the Chiefs in their most recent match.
"The Tahs have come on in leaps and bounds since we played them," Charles said.
"It's going to be a totally new machine that they bring to Perth.
"We've got one up on them and they are going to be extremely motivated. We have to nullify their attack and try and hit them behind the advantage line on defence."
Charles said the squad had been put through some heavy training sessions since Friday's 20-12 loss to the Chiefs.
"There's a few things we pulled out of that performance," he said.
"The disappointing thing is that we came so close and had so many bullets to fire, yet we just couldn't get over the line."
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/spo...ame-for-tests/
A nice bloke as well, I hope he gets a crack at it
Simon Cron: “People talk about winning and losing all the time and they are critical, but there’s a process to get into and it’s the ability to stay present, do your job and execute skills under pressure.”
It would be a disaster for him not to be considered. I think he's looking comparable to TPN at the moment, there are likely to be moments that he'd be rated above Moore. Nobody else is in the same postcode.
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Only problem is that Deans is stubborn. He's already selected James Hanson for the end of season tours.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
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Is Ben Alexander a certainty for test selection under Deans. It appears he likes his front rowers to be strong and uncreative......slipper Palmer, Moore.
Maybe Ma'afu is in with a shot, great scrummager, good in the tight, but not really mobile and only a threat running the ball if you're small enough for him to eat!
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Nathan Charles is a very good all round hooker. A bit like Stephen Moore.
Neither have the explosiveness of TPN, but both a better throwers and less injury prone.
Whoever props for the Wallabies will probably depend a bit on who is fit. Benn Robinson is a certainty at loosehead if fit. It will be interesting to see where Ben Alexander, James Slipper and Sekope Kepu are played. Some consistency with their selection would be good. Dan Palmer might be given a shot if there are injuries but I'd imagine Ma'afu is ahead of him there.. Pek Cowan deserves a crack given the form he's shown too.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
Deans also has "something" negative towards Force Players IMHO....Look at Sharpie and Hodgson???
Looking around the Aussie tightheads there aren't many options really. If you're prepared to sacrifice mobility, I'd call ma'afu the most likely, Deans has picked him before and he's performing the best of all of them in the set piece. Otoh if you want an all-round (not round like Ma'afu round) prop, you'd have to look at Benny A with maybe Slipper as a backup, but I haven't been at all impressed with Slippers set piece and Ben is truly a converted loose head.
I can't imagine we'll get any surprises from Deans, he doesn't seem any more able to select based upon form than any other Wallaby coach in recent memory.
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You'd hope Nick gets a sniff in as well..
Here's hoping Charles gets a look in. He's having a great season so far.
Ma'afu will be handy against northern hemisphere sides due to extra girth.
In general our scrum has been performing remarkably well this season - very impressive from all our boys.
coz Stone Cold says so
The Australian on weekend suggested Nathan is going to Rebels next year?