Queensland Reds trio pushing for Wallabies selection
REDS forwards Lukhan Tui, Caleb Timu and Brandon Paenga-Amosa shape as the big Queensland winners in Wednesday’s Wallabies selection lottery.
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REDS forwards Lukhan Tui, Caleb Timu and Brandon Paenga-Amosa shape as the big Queensland winners in Wednesday’s Wallabies selection lottery.
Tui, 21, is only touch-and-go to force a place in the Reds’ line-up for Saturday night’s interstate showdown against the NSW Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium, but his DNA as a player is essential for the balance of the Wallabies pack.
He has played less than three hours of rugby for the Reds all season because of suspension, minor knee surgery and missing selection, which is more a measure of circumstances running against him than not being rated highly.
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Wingers and props may be in flood proportions but Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has a real dilemma in finding the right mix of backrowers to battle the Irish at one of their strengths in the first Test at Suncorp Stadium on June 9.
That’s why Tui is so valued. He is a lock by trade but Cheika has for eight months imagined how good he could be as a bullocking, heavy-hitting No.6 and genuine lineout trump in his 198cm frame.
Tui must be there as a Test bench option for balance, with low-to-ground duo David Pocock and Michael Hooper entrenched as two of the starting backrowers.
Equally, Timu, 24, has a wonderful, line-busting knack as a balanced runner and deserves to win inclusion in his first Wallabies Test squad to see how many more of the subtleties of back-row play he can keep developing.
Paenga-Amosa, 22, is one of those rags-to-riches rises that always excites Australian rugby because he was an anonymous Sydney club player this time last year.
He has made a huge impression at hooker in Brad Thorn’s Reds team.
He is a key part of one of the competition’s best scrums, beside tighthead prop Taniela Tupou who is also certain of selection, and lineout throwing accuracy above 85 per cent is a huge tick for a Super Rugby rookie.
On top of that he has size (117kg) and savvy skills to back up as his five touches in the superb 20-phase Hamish Stewart try against the Highlanders demonstrated last weekend.
Giant lock Izack Rodda is past-the-post with his selection as one of the Reds’ best and consistently abrasive forwards every match.
Cheika blooded 27 new faces to Test rugby in 2016-17 which is fine to flush through new talent and depth, but he is almost at the pick-and-stick stage to develop his best starting XV with the World Cup in Japan just 16 months away.
Izaia Perese has such X-factor it would be hard to leave him out, but he could miss a spot in the squad because the Reds winger has missed so much rugby this season.
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Originally published as Queensland Reds trio pushing for Wallabies selection
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