NRL code hopper Marika Koroibete gets Wallabies debut
MARIKA Koroibete is the latest rugby league recruit to become a Wallaby after being named to make a likely Test debut against Argentina on Saturday night in Canberra.
MARIKA Koroibete is the latest rugby league recruit to become a Wallaby after being named to make a likely Test debut against Argentina on Saturday night in Canberra.
Coach Michael Cheika threw the former NRL flyer a spot on the bench as part of a largely unchanged 23-man squad from the Wallabies’ 23-all draw with the Springboks in Perth last week.
In the only change to the starting side, Brumbies giant Rory Arnold was by Rob Simmons in the second row in an apparent attempt to shore up the wobbly set-piece of last start.
Arnold, a mainstay of the Wallabies for the last year, was dropped out of the 23-man squad entirely and will return to the Canberra Vikings to play in the NRC. Young Queensland lock Izack Rodda was named on the bench instead.
As revealed in the Daily Telegraph, rookie hooker Jordan Uelese was also named for a second Test on the bench despite veteran Stephen Moore returning from a week off due to the birth of his third child.
Koroibete took the no.23 jersey from fellow code-hopper Curtis Rona.
The former Storm speedster only played his first season of Super Rugby for the Rebels this year but he’s bided his time ime in the Wallabies set-up, after first being taken away as a squad member on the Spring Tour last year.
Koroibete played in the Wallaby XV - or Australia “A” - against a French Barbarians team on tour but has been unused by Cheika throughout June and the early weeks of this year’s Rugby Championship.
He is set become Wallaby 913 and the tenth Wallabies debutant of 2017.
Originally published as NRL code hopper Marika Koroibete gets Wallabies debut