Rugby World Cup 2023: Eddie Jones unveils Wallabies team for warm-up match against France
Eddie Jones is investing in youth - but even by that metric, this ranks among the all-time bolters from the Wallabies mentor. Meet the new powerhouse shaking up the Australian pack.
Often prone to exaggeration, Eddie Jones wasn’t overegging the pudding with his colourful description of World Cup bolter Blake Schoupp.
Likening the emerging young prop to a ‘brick shithouse’, Jones has a big opinion of the powerful 25-year-old front-rower, who has won himself a spot in the Wallabies World Cup squad less than year after he was plucked from Shute Shield.
Standing 1.80 metres tall and weighing 117 kilograms - most of it muscle - Schoupp has the perfect frame for the punishing demands of Test match scrums, but it’s not just his physical attributes that has impressed the game’s best judges.
“The most important part was his attitude,” Wallabies assistant coach Dan Palmer said.
“He desperately wanted to be a professional rugby player.
“He‘s constantly looking to improve, constantly learning from the guys around him.”
Palmer was asked last year to come and take a closer look at Schoupp, who was playing for Southern Districts in the Sydney grade competition and working as a PE teacher.
Overlooked by the Waratahs, Palmer immediately liked what he saw in Schoupp so invited him to trial for the Brumbies.
He made his Super Rugby debut in February. Six months later, he is poised to earn his first Test cap after being picked on the bench for the Wallabies final World Cup warm up match against France in Paris on Sunday night (0145 AEST Monday).
“The first time I went and watched him train it was pretty apparent that physically he was essentially ready to go,” Palmer said.
“That was a big plus for him because not everyone‘s coming from that base, but he certainly was.
“That kind of gave him a head start coming into our program and then we could really focus on refining what he was doing technically around the scrum and other areas of the game to get him up to speed.”
No international team can have enough props but the Wallabies are lucky to have Schoupp, who could just as easily have been lured to league.
Like a lot of boys growing up on the NSW South coast, he played both football codes as a kid - league with the Thirroul Butchers and rugby with the Woonona Shamrocks, the same club where Jed Holloway started out.
Schoupp’s younger brother Aaron - who plays centre for the Gold Coast Titans - stuck with league and made his NRL debut for the Bulldogs when he was a teenager.
Schoupp might have also been tempted to league but chose rugby after he was offered a scholarship to Brisbane’s Nudgee College, one of Australia’s best rugby nurseries.
“It was always going to be rugby union from then on,” he said.
“At an early age when I started to develop as a front rower physically, that was the sort of turning point as well, because it was an opportunity for me to use that going forward.”
Other opportunities didn’t come as quick as he might have liked but he kept at it, dedicating himself to mastering the dark arts of scrummaging and never letting go of his dream.
“I‘d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it because at the end of the day that’s everyone’s goal in Australian rugby,” he said.
“It has been a crazy 12 months but once I was in the Brumbies set up like, I just thought anything could happen.
“Being a front rower, I‘m just passionate about the certain areas of the game that I’m involved in. I’m a very emotional player as well. So if there is a moment to take advantage of then I will take it.”
Born to play footy - his older brother plays first grade for the Shamrocks and his father was a premiership winning player and representative coach in the Illawarra - Schoupp’s sudden promotion has triggered a late change of travel plans for his family with another bundle of joy on the way.
“I’ve got a younger sister as well so there were four of us and it was pretty chaotic at one stage because we‘re all pretty close in age, running around the house trying to bash each other,” Schoupp said.
“Mum and Dad are gonna come over for the pool games. Aaron unfortunately won‘t be able to come over because his partner’s pregnant and they’re having a baby, which will be due in the start of November so potentially getting back for the birth will be good as well.”
JONES’ WALLABIES REVOLUTION TAKES SHAPE WITH TWO FRESH FACES
This time, the Wallabies just can’t lose.
Undeterred by the ribbing he copped for his boorish crack at the media before heading to Europe, Eddie Jones has got all his excuses in early this time.
In picking a team brimming with youth for this weekend’s final World Cup warm-up against the French in Paris, Jones has backed a sure-fire winner.
If his young side somehow beats Les Bleus – and they have a realistic shot at doing just that – it will provide the entire Wallabies’ squad with a massive confidence boost two weeks out from their opening World Cup match against Georgia.
But if they lose, it can be dismissed as another practice game that doesn’t really mean much in the big scheme of things.
That might sound like a cop out, but it’s true. The Wallabies may have lost all four matches they have played this season but they have been showing steady improvements while tinkering with a line-up that was showing no sign of improving over the last three years.
“Improving our physical capacity has been a priority and our rugby fitness is rapidly improving and we will look to use it against France,” Jones said.
“To play against the tournament hosts in front of a massive crowd at the venue for the final is perfect preparation for us.
“We are a young side, who is ambitious and in the process of developing our game.”
Jones is a natural optimist and a master of spin but he’s also right to be keeping his cards close to his chest.
There is nothing to be gained for any team revealing their hand early so no-one should read too much into pre-World Cup form.
The biggest surprise Jones sprung was when he picked Will Skelton as his captain – and the towering lock will officially lead the Wallabies for the first time at the Stade de France on Sunday night (0145 Monday AEST).
Brimming with youth after Jones has vowed to kickstart a new generation of Wallabies, Jones’ squad for the last warm-up ins similar to the team that came close to beating New Zealand earlier this month.
But he has included two uncapped players on the bench -, Port Douglas scrumhalf Issak Fines-Leleiwasa and promising young prop Blake Schoupp, whose brother Aaron plays in the NRL for the Gold Coast Titans.
One of the bolters in the squad, Schoupp hails from the Woonona Shamrocks club in the Illawarra and is a strong believer that the Wallabies are heading in the right direction.
“Obviously, you want to win every game as best you can, but the whole point of this game is to get better and prepare for the World Cup,” Schoupp said.
“We‘ve got a squad there that has an extremely high ceiling and if we reach that potential, then we will win the game. Everyone’s got to play their part and we’ll just see what happens.
The Wallabies squad has a combined total of just 258 test caps, with more than half of the squad boasting less than 10 caps.
Marika Koroibete has been given a week off, presenting former NRL winger Suliasi Vunivalu with a start on the left wing for the first time, with Mark Nawaqanitawase on the other side and Andrew Kellaway at fullback.
Lalakai Foketi and Jordan Petaia start in the midfield with Samu Kerevi out injured.
In another clear sign that Jones now has a good idea of who he wants to star in the World Cup and the way he wants the team to play, vice-captain Tate McDermott and Carter Gordon were retained as the halves pairing for third match in a row and Taniela Tupou was given his first start of the year at tighthead prop.
“Every test we play is important, every test we play, we want to win,” Wallabies’ assistant coach Dan Palmer said.
“But like all international teams this year, there‘s a context of the World Cup, so even though we haven’t managed to get a win, you’ve seen the team progress over the past few months.
“The goal this weekend is exactly the same. We need to see progression in certain areas. We‘re trying to build a team that can win the World Cup. So in terms of selection, that was at the forefront as well.”
Battered by injuries, France have named Matthieu Jalibert to start at fly half as the replacement for Romain Ntamack, who has been ruled out of the tournament after rupturing cruciate ligaments in his left knee during an earlier warm-up.
Les Bleus coach has picked a near full-strength side to face the Wallabies, making 10 changes to the team that beat Fiji last weekend.
Yet to register a win in four matches this season, the Wallabies have a good record against France.
In the last decade, the two sides have played each other nine times with the Australians winning six and all three losses by just three points or less.
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