Hunt deserves chance, says Wallabies coach

MELBOURNE: Coach Michael Cheika said veteran code-hopper Karmichael Hunt had earned his chance with Australia after overcoming the “hardship” of a cocaine scandal at the start of his rugby career.

Hunt, whose introduction to rugby in 2015 was blighted by the scandal stemming from his days in the Australian Football League, will make his Wallabies debut aged 30 against Fiji today.

Hunt, who was named at inside-centre, joins fullback Israel Folau in the Wallabies team as the only players in Australian history who have been a dual rugby international and an AFL senior player.

“He’s overcome some hardship, ever since he’s come to rugby and that’s what we want in players,” Cheika said ahead of the Melbourne international.

“We want them to be resilient. He’s warranted the opportunity to wear the gold jumper.”

Hunt said his Wallabies debut was something to savour given the tumultuous path to his selection.

“It obviously hasn’t been an easy road for me,” he said. “So to be able to get here and make my debut against Fiji, it doesn’t get any sweeter for me.”

Cheika has shouldered the task of lifting the spirits of Australian rugby amid a demoralising Super Rugby campaign, and he hasn’t shied away from making tough calls to get the Wallabies off to a winning start for 2017.

He has dumped 117-Test hooker and captain Stephen Moore from the starting line-up, handing the captaincy to flanker Michael Hooper, and named two debutants in Hunt and blindside flanker Ned Hanigan.

While Cheika says 34-year-old Moore won’t be jettisoned from his plans for the 2019 World Cup in Japan, he has given Tatafu Polota-Nau his chance to impress as first-choice hooker in Melbourne.

“Stephen’s still our captain and our leader, we want to create competition so no one is guaranteeing anyone anything and he (Moore) knows that,” Cheika said. AFP