Wallabies lock Will Skelton drops 8kg after Michael Cheika delivers home truths
WILL Skelton has always been and will always be big but he’s fitter than ever and back in the Wallabies squad after cutting out ‘the white devil’ — sugar.
Wallabies
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A SUGAR-free Will Skelton believes cutting the addictive substance from his diet has been the key to his Wallabies recall for the first time in six games.
Describing sugar as “the devil”, a trimmer Skelton will come off the bench for his first Test since August 27 to face Scotland at Murrayfield, having dropped from 146kg to 138kg after coach Michael Cheika told him he was unfit for selection.
“It’s always been an ongoing battle for me growing up, I’ve had weight issues and stuff like that but I think now I’m conscious about it,” Skelton said.
“I eat too much, my eyes get too big at the buffet.
“Now I can work on the things I can do as a lock being specific — lineout, scrum or those things that I can really add value to as opposed to being that big ball carrier who tries to destroy mauls. Now I can be a bit more specific and have a specific role in the team.”
Skelton had to make a sacrifice that many find impossible.
“It’s more like, cut the sugar, just no sugar, that’s basically it — it’s the devil,” he said.
“I was finding it tough the first couple of weeks when we were running up some hills in Sydney but I got through that patch and it’s working for me.”
Skelton’s wife Kate has helped him to quit by undertaking the same sacrifice.
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“We’ve had some friends who’ve helped but with anything you do if you’re doing it together with your partner or anything it’s a lot easier,” Skelton said.
“We’ve both been doing it and we love it, it’s good.”
Cheika said Skelton had accepted the hard truths he heard after his previous Test in Wellington against the All Blacks nearly three months ago.
“It was an easy conversation because we always tell each other the truth,” Cheika said.
“It’s only because I want him to be the best player he can be, and he’s got unlimited potential that lad.
“He’s got to get himself to that potential and we’ve got to take him beyond that.
“It’s not a difficult conversation to have because it’s the truth, and inside this team we tell each other the truth whether it’s good or bad.
“That’s something we’re benefiting from as a group, building a camaraderie around that honesty.”
Skelton added: “He gave me specific goals. He wanted my work rate up He wanted me to be able to impose myself a bit more and I feel like I got to the weight now that I can do that.
“I thought all the boys played really well [against Wales] and I wasn’t expecting a call-up just because after the result on the weekend you don’t usually see new faces in the team but for me it’s just trying to add what I can add this weekend being on the bench and providing that impact for the forwards because I know it know it will be a tough battle up front,” Skelton said.
“We’re going to need every person on the bench.”
SCOTLAND v AUSTRALIA
Murrayfield, Edinburgh
Sunday 1.30am (EDT)
TV: Live on Foxtel’s BeIn Sports
SCOTLAND: 15. Stuart Hogg 14. Sean Maitland 13. Huw Jones 12. Alex Dunbar 11. Tim Visser 10. Finn Russell 9. Greig Laidlaw (captain) 8. Ryan Wilson 7. Hamish Watson 6. John Barclay 5. Jonny Gray 4. Richie Gray 3. Zander Fagerson 2. Ross Ford 1.Allan Dell.
Reserves: 16. Fraser Brown 17. Gordon Reid 18. Moray Low 19. Grant Gilchrist 20. John Hardie 21. Ali Price 22. Pete Horne 23. Rory Hughes.
AUSTRALIA: 15. Israel Folau 14. Dane Haylett-Petty 13. Tevita Kuridrani 12. Reece Hodge 11. Henry Speight 10. Bernard Foley 9. Will Genia 8. Lopeti Timani 7. Michael Hooper 6. David Pocock 5. Adam Coleman 4. Rory Arnold 3. Sekope Kepu 2. Stephen Moore (captain) 1. Scott Sio.
Reserves: 16. Tolu Latu 17. Tom Robertson 18. Allan Alaalatoa 19. Rob Simmons 20. Will Skelton 21. Dean Mumm 22. Nick Phipps 23. Quade Cooper.