New deal a hope of happy Hunting
KARMICHAEL Hunt has signed a new two-year deal to reach the 2019 Rugby World Cup because he has played just five of 28 possible Tests since first being ushered into the Wallabies camp last year.
Groin, ankle and neck injuries have limited the dual international’s time on the field, but the Wallabies have enjoyed the high-intensity spark he offers whenever he has been involved.
Playing off the bench against Scotland at chilly Murrayfield on Sunday will be his final act of the season before a holiday and Queensland Reds pre-season training under new coach Brad Thorn.
Selecting power-running forward Lukhan Tui, 21, would be an asset for the starting pack to fracture the harassing Scottish defence, while sea- soned back-rower Ben McCalman is another in the frame.
Utility back Hunt will only be 32 at the World Cup in Japan, but his body is much older footy-wise from the knocks accumulated by playing three codes for 15 years.
That’s the balancing act of this new deal. He has also played just 32 of the Reds’ 46 Super Rugby games since 2015, so will the body hold together?
Hunt never throws anything less than physical fury into any run or tackle and his front-on hit on Welsh centre Jonathan Davies in open space in Cardiff was one of the more important stops of the tour. Hunt has also found a bond with his Wallabies teammates.
“I’ve always said – in Test match footy you need creativity and to be able to add that extra spark in the final 20 minutes of matches,” Kurtley Beale said.
“K’s got a great rugby brain, a really good outlook on how to manipulate defenders and his experience around the group is beneficial as well.”
It has taken up to the third year of his first three-year term in rugby to show the right reward for the big contract the Reds first brokered.