Code-jumper Israel Folau has been included, but controversial flyhalf Quade Cooper omitted from a Wallabies planning camp this weekend for the British and Irish Lions tour, the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) confirmed yesterday.
Cooper had already told local media of his exclusion from the 30-strong party, but coach Robbie Deans said missing the camp did not rule a player out of participation in the three Tests against the tourists in June and July.
“There’s something like eight rounds to go before we gather for the Lions tour,” Deans told reporters in Sydney, adding that Cooper, Kurtley Beale and other regular Test players, like winger Drew Mitchell and prop Sekope Kepu, could still be included.
“So there’s still a lot of rugby to be played, a lot of water to go under the bridge and a lot of opportunity for everyone to press their claims,” Deans said.
Former rugby league international back Folau was included on the back of improved performances for the New South Wales Waratahs in his debut season in rugby union, after making the switch from the Australian rules code.
Folau was one of seven uncapped players invited to Sydney to participate in the camp tomorrow and Monday, when they will “conclude off-field requirements and team planning” for the Lions series.
Players had been selected on early season Super Rugby form.
Eleven players from the table-topping ACT Brumbies were invited, with in-form, but uncapped back-rower Ben Mowen, No. 8 Fotu Auelua, scrumhalf Nic White and fullback Jesse Mogg among them.
However, there was no place for George Smith, as the 110-cap flanker remains ineligible due to his contract with a Japanese club.
Cooper’s omission and the indefinite ban for fighting his teammates handed to Beale last month leaves James O’Connor, Berrick Barnes and uncapped Christian Lealiifano as the flyhalf options.
Beale would be considered again when he resumes playing, Deans said.
“Kurtley’s obviously not playing at the moment. He’s sought help, which is great, so he’s going through a counseling process,” Deans said.
“He’s got to go through that first and that’s got to run its course and, if and when he becomes available, we’d consider it then,” he said.
“He’d return to the Rebels and play, so we’d obviously observe with interest,” Deans added.
Cooper fell out with Deans in spectacular fashion last year when he slammed the coach’s tactics and what he said was a “toxic” atmosphere in the Wallabies camp.
The first 25-man Wallabies squad for the Lions series are to be named on May 19, with a further six players added when the Super Rugby season pauses for the international break.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier