SAMU IN LINE TO MAKE BOW FOR AUSTRALIA

UNCAPPED loose forward Peter Samu will join the Australia squad for the June series against Ireland on Sunday after being granted a release by New Zealand Rugby (NZR).

Australia-born Samu (right), who will join the ACT Brumbies in Super Rugby next season, is contracted to the Canterbury Crusaders and also New Zealand’s Tasman provincial side.

Rugby Australia said they had reached an agreement with their New Zealand counterparts which will see the 26-year-old complete the Super Rugby season with the Crusaders but then be released from his obligations with Tasman.

Samu first played for Tasman when he was 22 and could have been selected for New Zealand on residency grounds.

Media reports had indicated NZR had demanded a fee for his release for the June international window.

The move is good news for Australia coach Michael Cheika, who has long been desperate to add more physicality to supplement the skills of twin opensides Michael Hooper and David Pocock in his back row.

A more immediate concern for Cheika for next week’s first test against the Six Nations champions in Brisbane is his options at hooker after Jordan Uelese suffered a suspected ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

Meanwhile, Eddie Jones has labelled Bruce Craig as the ‘Donald Trump of rugby’ as his feud with the Bath owner intensified. Craig has criticised Jones’ training methods which the England coach branded as ‘cynical’ and innappropriate’.

‘Bruce Craig sounds like the Donald Trump of rugby. He has the same hairstyle,’ Jones said. ‘Everything we do is about training to get better, it’s not about satisfying some bloke who has got plenty of money in Bath and thinks he knows everything about rugby. I find it all a bit tedious.’