Star Wade resigned to coming off bench

WADE Graham created his own piece of history with his four-try performance against France on Friday night but the Cronulla backrower is almost certain it won’t be enough to keep him in the starting side for Australia.

Graham dazzled the French in Canberra, running in a quartet of four-pointers, becoming the first forward since Gorden Tallis against Papua New Guinea in 2000 to score four tries in a game.

It was a star turn for Graham in his second Test — but after the match he seemed resigned to the fact his stint in the starting 13 was all but over.

“I know I played well tonight, but there’s a fair backrower who normally plays on the left who didn’t play tonight by the name of Boyd Cordner,” Graham said.

“I’m pretty sure he’ll be lining up in the 11 for the rest of the tournament.

“I’m just happy we performed as a team, we were a little bit better than last week.”

Cordner and Matt Gillett appear to have a mortgage on the Australian backrow positions but Graham is a handy back-up for either player, and can also cover the halves, hooker and centre.

His versatility was one of the reasons coach Mal Meninga chose him for this tournament, and gives him a chance of securing the Kangaroos utility role for the knockout stages if he performs strongly against Lebanon next weekend.

Graham will face some stiff competition for the role in Cameron Munster, who scored a double on debut at halfback and had a hand in a number of other tries.

But Graham says he’ll take whatever role he needs to in order to help the team succeed.

“I’m very grateful to be in this team, it’s a hard team to get into,” he said.

“There’s a lot of quality players that aren’t in this team that wish they could be here.

“Whether it’s coming off the bench or carrying water bottles, I just want to contribute to this team, to have success, and whatever that role means to me I’m willing to do it.”