Koroibete doesn’t expect Tour start
IAIN PAYTEN MARIKA Koroibete says he wasn’t promised a Wallabies spot by Michael Cheika when recruited from the NRL but now he’s got one, the flying Fijian doesn’t expect to play on the Spring Tour.
Koroibete flew out of Sydney with the Wallabies yesterday on their five-Test tour of Europe, less than a month after he finished up for the Melbourne Storm in the NRL grand final.
The selection of the 24year-old in the Wallabies’ 32man squad has been contentious, with critics saying Koroibete should have earned a spot in Super Rugby first.
Some suspect Koroibete was promised a tour spot when negotiating his switch back to rugby and Koroibete indicated as much last month when he said Cheika told him he’d be going on the Spring Tour before signing with the Rebels.
But talking at Sydney Airport before leaving with the Wallabies squad, Koroibete said Cheika “didn’t promise me anything.”
“He asked me if I wanted to come to rugby union,” Koroibete said. “There was nothing about the Australian side. It was about coming to Super Rugby and if I wanted to change, and it was my dream to play Super Rugby, so I thought: ‘why not?’
“As a little boy growing up in Fiji, I always wanted to play Super Rugby.”
Koroibete is likely to get at least one game on tour – a midweek clash for Australia against the French Barbarians. It is not unfeasible that Koroibete could sneak onto the end of a bench for a Test at some point.