Payto & Panda: Make or break for Henry Speight as he chases Aussie sevens spot at Rio Olympics
IT will be make or break time for Henry Speight’s Olympic dream next week when the Aussie sevens teams plays a series of crucial games at Narrabeen.
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IT will be make or break time for Henry Speight’s ​Olympic​ dream next week when the Aussie sevens teams plays a series of ​crucial ​games at Narrabeen.
But if the speedy winger doesn’t make the cut, there may be a fair consolation prize: a call-up to the Wallabies squad for the third Test against England.
Speight will return from two months on the sideline with a fractured eye socket when an Australian squad plays an ARU development team in a six-game series between Monday and Wednesday.
Coach Andy Friend will pick a 16-man squad after that for a camp in Darwin and some warm-up games against Japan, before finally naming a 14-man group for the Games.
“I have some pretty strong views already on certain positions but there is still a cloud over others, and there some guys haven’t had a chance to show us what they’ve got yet,” Friend said.
Speight, Tom Cusack, Nick Malouf and Greg Jeloudev all return from injury, but Nick Cummins (knee) may be battling to play. If he doesn’t that would end Cummins’ road to Rio.
Speight hasn’t played sevens since Sydney but said his eye felt strong after surgery and he believed he had a good chance to crack the squad.
“A bit of headgear there, I’ll be all good,” Speight said.
“I feel I can make a good claim. I guess there is no other option. I don’t feel like I have anything to lose. I will go out and do my best.”
Whether he makes the squad or not, Speight said he was committed to stay with the sevens program until after the Games.
But Friend said he’d be content to release Speight back to 15s if he didn’t make the 16-man squad.
“My view is we will have 16 players we want to take away to Darwin. If Henry is in that, fantastic. If he is not, if the Brumbies and the Wallabies want to use him, by all means. He is a rugby player,” Friend said.
“But you also know if we had injuries he has that training under his belt and he could easily slip back in.”
Nine spots will be up for grabs next week, with Cameron Clark, Allan Fa’alava’au, Con Foley, Henry Hutchison, Ed Jenkins, James Stannard all rested and seemingly assured of Rio spots. Lewis Holland is still injured but is also a lock for the Olympics.
If Speight doesn’t make it past Wednesday, he could easily return to Wallabies’ contention for the third Test given the shortage of wingers. The Brumbies would
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When it rains, it floods for the Australian under 20s side.
The heavy downpour in Sydney over the weekend saw the fields at Narrabeen flooded on Monday.
Most buildings are on stilts but the Aussie sevens headquarters had a storage area on ground level.
The Aussie under 20s, who’d be in camp at Narrabeen before flying to Manchester for the world championships, left their baggage in the storage area and it all got soaked.
“It was a bit of a wreck down there,” Andy Friend reported.
The bad news got worse when the Aussie lads were beaten by Scotland in their opening game less than 24 hours later.
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STEPHEN Larkham was doing his best to earn a recall to the Wallabies side by training at inside centre for much of the build-up, imitating Christian Lealiifano who they hoped would arrive in camp early this week.
But Lealiifano’s wife gave birth to their first child, son Jeremih (pronounced Jere-mai) in Canberra on Tuesday afternoon, which meant the Brumbies playmaker only arrived in Brisbane on Wednesday and so was put on the bench.
Larkham had been sending Lealiifano video footage and notes of their game-plan every day via email while he was in hospital awaiting the birth.
But attack coach Larkham is also aware that Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore will bring up his 103rd Test this weekend, overtaking Larkham’s 102 Tests, and observers were convinced “Bernie” was keen to show he still has what it takes.
Officials expect more than 48,000 spectators to turn out for the Wallabies’ opening match of 2016 against England on Saturday, while the remaining games in Melbourne and Sydney are close to sold out.
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BENN Robinson was inundated with messages from around the world after announcing his premature retirement this week.
Aussie teammates and even rivals such as Wales prop Adam Jones sent well wishes that made a tough day easier to deal with. There were even a few from ex-rugby league players, said Robinson.
“It was an emotional day but it’s nice to have it done. I couldn’t really tell anyone how serious it was for four or five weeks and I didn’t want to lie to people so I just kept quiet,” he said.
“It’s been tough but it’s really good to now get on with the next chapter of life.”
The Other Rugby Show
The sleeper hit show of the Rugby World Cup last year, The Cup Runneth Over, has been reborn and will make its debut next week on FoxSports.
The Other Rugby Show, hosted by Sean Maloney, will screen on Wednesday night as part of a reshuffled rugby hour. Rugby 360 will follow it at 8pm.
The new program is built around an irreverent look at the week in rugby, and will be co-hosted by former Bledisloe Cup rivals George Gregan and Andrew Mehrtens. Stephen Hoiles and Tiana Penitani will be roving reporters.
Former Wallaby Hoiles will be subjected to some “interesting” challenges, said Maloney.
“We appreciate Stephen is fast building a reputation as a credible analyst of the game,” Maloney told us.
“Our aim is to try and erode all that credibility within the space of 30 minutes. Tune jn.”
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WITH no major surprises over their new selections, the major mystery about this year’s All Blacks is who will lead their haka.
With Keven Mealamu and Richie McCaw retired, the Kiwis will choose between new captain Kieran Read and halfback Aaron Smith as to who will take charge of the famous war cry from here on, starting against Wales on Saturday.
The All Blacks also used a new arrow formation in their haka at last year’s World Cup, with McCaw at the front, and it will be interesting to see if they continue with it
If so, it would seemingly give Smith rights to leading the haka from the back and Read fronting the arrow.
As far as replacements go for the big names, Sam Cane steps in for McCaw in the No. 7 jersey, Aaron Cruden takes Dan Carter’s place as five-eighth, while the record-breaking Ma’a Nonu-Conrad Smith centre pairing is replaced by Ryan Crotty and Malakai Fekitoa, though it is inevitable that Sonny Bill Williams will take the inside centre spot from next year.
Originally published as Payto & Panda: Make or break for Henry Speight as he chases Aussie sevens spot at Rio Olympics
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