Bernie ready for England
25 May 2006
Injured flyhalf Stephen Larkham has declared himself an almost certain starter for the Wallabies’ Test against England next month.
The Wallabies’ 42-man training squad wrapped up their three-day camp in Sydney with a final training session on Thursday morning, where Larkham said he was close to fully recovered from a hamstring injury that cut short his Super 14 season, News24 reported.
Larkham said he probably would have been ready to play in the Super 14 semi-finals last week had the Brumbies qualified and that he should be fine to tackle the English in Sydney on June 11.
Coach John Connolly and fellow national selectors will trim the preliminary squad to 33 on Monday before heading to camp at Coffs Harbour.
Meanwhile, Queensland prop Rodney Blake is expected to announce on Friday that he will stay with the Reds next season rather than accept a lucrative offer to play in France.
Blake said the lure of a Wallabies jumper had him leaning towards remaining in Australia.
16 Comments
25 May 2006, 08:44 am
Shame
25 May 2006, 08:46 am
Morning Andrew
Lineups for Saturdays Final
Crusaders
1 Wyatt Crockett
2 Corey Flynn
3 Greg Somerville
4 Chris Jack
5 Ross Filipo
6 Reuben Thorne
7 Richie McCaw
8 Mose Tuialii
9 Kevin Senio
10 Daniel Carter
11 Scott Hamilton
12 Aaron Mauger
13 Casey Laulala
14 Rico Gear
15 Leon MacDonald
16 Tone Kopelani
17 Campbell Johnstone
18 Johnny Leoo
19 Tanerau Latimer
20 Stephen Brett
21 Cameron McIntyre
22 Caleb Ralph
Hurricanes
1 John Schwagler
2 Andrew Hore
3 Neemia Tialata
4 Paul Tito
5 Jason Eaton
6 Jerry Collins
7 Chris Masoe
8 Rodney So’oialo
9 Piri Weepu
10 David Holwell
11 Shannon Paku
12 Tana Umaga
13 Ma’a Nonu
14 Lome Fa’atau
15 Isaia Toeava
16 Luke Mahoney
17 Joe McDonnell
18 Luke Andrews
19 Thomas Waldrom
20 Brendan Haami
21 Jimmy Gopperth
22 Tamati Ellison
25 May 2006, 08:54 am
Rodney Blake has signed a deal to keep him at the Queensland Reds for the next two years.
25 May 2006, 09:19 am
Blake has already decided to stay with Queensland(http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,8659,19253073-23210,00.html)-great news for our flagging rugby team that was pilfered by the Force last year!
25 May 2006, 09:20 am
Ian you a Reds man??
I believe the Brumbies have claimed Julian Huxley too,it seems you guys are the one stop shop in Oz rugby at present.
25 May 2006, 09:25 am
Rastafox,
I admit it, I am, in spite of our poor results over the last two or more seasons! I’m hanging in there.
Julian Huxley is not too big a loss, but Blake would have been. If we can keep our front row (Homes, Blake and Moore), I’m convinced our fortunes will change in the future.
25 May 2006, 09:27 am
Huge relief for the Reds, if he went they would have been totally farked!
Ian, what do you think, will Ed the Lip be able to do the job. I have my doubts if he will fit into the cultural.
25 May 2006, 09:44 am
Koos,
Great question! I’m not 100% sure. He certainly has the qualifications to pull them out of the red, and he has already worked with some of the players. However, my greatest concern is whether or not the administrators will give him free reign, or make lie intolerable!
When all is said and done, just about anyone would be better than Miller. How he succeeded with the Wallabies when Macqueen was the coach, I don’t know. A friend of mine who used to know one of the players in the Reds who retired last year, said Miller was not liked by the players.
I honestly think that with a different mindset, the Reds will do well, much like the Sharks have with Muir.
25 May 2006, 09:45 am
Would it make a difference if Larkham is playing or not.
The Poms have shown that they are capable of winning only twice every century in Australia.
However……will be interesting nonetheless.
25 May 2006, 09:45 am
Ian
Are the “vets” like Connors and Cordingley sticking around??
25 May 2006, 09:54 am
Rastafox,
As far as I’m aware yes! However, I don’t know for sure.
In spite of Cordingly’s great season, IMHO, Valentine is the future, though working with Cordingly would help develop him.
25 May 2006, 13:56 pm
nothing on the brumbies website about Huxley although it was mentioned on the ARU site
25 May 2006, 14:35 pm
lams to the slaughter, expect big tears and excuses from StM. Tho these days i see he gets them in early.
25 May 2006, 15:09 pm
If Larkham is not 100%, expect him to NOT be playing against England this time around. If his hamstring was to be injured again (God forbid) then it will be more time off up to 3 months or so.
There are bigger fish to fry later this year, so if England will put up a rubbish team then it won’t really matter.
Huxley is signed, sealed and just about delivered.
Johannson is interested in coming here….
If Tawake joins Darth and the Force then Hoiles has been mentioned as a replacement.
25 May 2006, 17:04 pm
I would rest Bernie and throw rogers into the 10 spot. Preservation of Bernie is key for the wallabies 2006 test season. Bernie can come back fit and ready for the tri-nations. Last year just showed how much they missed him.
27 May 2006, 04:04 am
Tune out of the Wallaby squad
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.