Rugby 2023: Wallabies reveal 44-strong pre-season training squad

Head coach Dave Rennie has opted for an expanded squad for the Wallabies’ first pre-season training camp as depth becomes a genuine priority for the struggling Aussies. See who made the list.

Wallabies veterans Quade Cooper and Kurtley Beale have been included in Australia’s first pre-season training camp ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Head coach Dave Rennie has also added two more uncapped players — loose forward Charlie Gamble and halfback Ryan Lonergan — in an expanded 44-player squad that will attend a four-day camp at the Gold Coast next week.

Samu Kerevi, who is currently out of action from japan while injured, was also included on the list because he’s currently back in Australia, but a number of big-name players who are playing overseas were not considered.

The squad is not full-strength or indicative of who is likely to get chosen for the World Cup later this year.

The Wallabies were smashed by injuries last year so Rennie blooded plenty of new players in different positions.

Kurtley Beale has been included in Australia’s first pre-season training camp at the Gold Coast.

But with only five more games before the World Cup, and the Wallabies needing to find form quickly after struggling in 2022, team selections are likely to be more consistent going forward.

“What’s exciting for us is that over the past three years we’ve created genuine depth and competition of places,” Rennie said.

“Of the 44 players all bar two have worn the gold jersey over the past three years and there’s also several fringe players who still have an opportunity to force their way into the next camp through strong Super Rugby form.

“We’ll use the four days to make sure all players head back to their franchises with a clear understanding on what will give them the best chance of representing their country in a World Cup year.”

Wallabies' World Cup plans take huge hit with coach quitting

Australia’s rugby World Cup preparations were dealt a blow on Thursday with assistant coach Scott Wisemantel quitting just eight months out from the global showpiece in France.

Wisemantel, an Australian, joined the Wallabies’ backroom staff under coach Dave Rennie two years ago after 18 months in a similar role with Eddie Jones’s England.

Rugby Australia said he wanted to spend more time with his family and business interests outside the sport.

“Scott’s a top man and one of the best coaches I’ve ever worked with,” Rennie said.

“He’s hugely respected around the world, has a mountain of experience at international level and an incredible rapport with our players.

“He’s been a massive part of this group for the past three years and we’ll miss him.”

His departure and vast World Cup experience is a significant setback for a side that won just five from 14 Tests last year.

An assistant coach at the past four World Cups with Australia, Samoa, Japan and England, he helped the latter to the final in 2019.

“While this has been a very difficult decision, it’s one that’s best for me and my family at this point in time,” said Wisemantel.

“The World Cup is the pinnacle of our sport and requires 100 per cent commitment and that’s something I’m unfortunately unable to give at the moment.”

Scott Wisemantel during his time working alongside England coach Eddie Jones.

Revealed: Wallabies’ sink or swim road map to World Cup

Dave Rennie and his out-of-form Wallabies are facing an exhausting 45,000 kilometre build-up to this year’s World Cup in France after agreeing to a treacherous stretch of warm-up matches that could make or break their prospects of contending for the biggest prize in rugby.

Already in the midst of one of the worst slumps in the team’s proud history after losing six of their last eight Tests in 2022, the long road ahead for the Wallabies is littered with even deeper potholes.

Desperately needing to turn the team’s flagging fortunes around to have any chance at the World Cup kicking off in September, the Wallabies have gone all in with a sink or swim approach that includes five insanely difficult Test matches — at home, New Zealand, Africa and finally Europe.

If things go well, it could just be the boost the Wallabies need to make a serious run at the World Cup but if it goes badly and everything backfires, it could cost players and coaches their jobs with Rennie already under pressure now that Eddie Jones is available.

The Wallabies are expected to be heading to Ellis Park in Johannesburg, the most impenetrable fortress in international rugby, to take on South Africa this year.

Although the Wallabies’ schedule for 2023 has still not been officially released, News Corp can reveal it will comprise:

* A one-off Test against the world champion South Africans at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, the most impenetrable fortress in international rugby.

Situated in the highveld, almost 1.5 km above sea level, Loftus Versfeld is among the most difficult stadiums in the world for foreign teams to win at it because the extreme altitude sucks the air out of the lungs of visiting sides.

The Wallabies have never beaten the Springboks there since they first tried way back in 1963 — the same year Robert Menzies was starting his last term as Australian Prime Minister, US President John F Kennedy was assassinated and The Beatles recorded their first No. 1 hit song Please Please me.

The Wallabies will travel to New Zealand in August for the return Bledisloe Cup match in Dunedin, where the Australians have not won in over two decades.

* With most of Australia’s main stadiums unavailable because they have already been booked out for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Wallabies’ two home fixtures in 2023 will be played in the traditional heartlands of rugby league and Australian Rules football.

The Wallabies will take on Michael Cheika’s rapidly improving Argentina at CommBank Stadium, a week after returning from South Africa. The only other time the teams played each other at the western Sydney venue, it ended in a stalemate.

Then the Wallabies will face their arch enemies New Zealand in a rare clash at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in what also doubles as the final game of the shortened three-round Rugby Championship.

* The Wallabies will then travel to New Zealand in August for the return Bledisloe Cup match against the All Blacks in Dunedin, where the Australians have not won in over two decades, before the 33-man squad for the World Cup is selected.

* Australia’s first World Cup pool match is against Georgia, in Paris on September 9, but the Wallabies have also locked in one final blockbuster warm-up match in Europe — against the tournament hosts and favourites France at the Stade de France — so will either go onto the World Cup on a massive high – or a slump off the back of yet another loss.

Originally published as Rugby 2023: Wallabies reveal 44-strong pre-season training squad