Oz players dropped after women visit hotel room
AUSTRALIA duo Kurtley Beale and Adam Ashley-Cooper have been stood down for selection for the Wallabies’ clash with England this weekend for bringing three women back to their hotel room in Cardiff.
The Australian reports that the pair have been disciplined for a breach of team protocol, by inviting women back to their Cardiff hotel room after Wales’ 9-6 win over Australia earlier this month.
The Wallabies have a strict rule that no guests are allowed back to players’ hotel rooms and, while it is understood the women were Ashley-Cooper’s sister-in-law and two friends, senior players deemed it an unacceptable breach.
According to a team spokesman, the women joined the two players in their room but left at 10.30pm on the night the Wallabies lost 9-6 to Wales at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.
According to the report, Australia coach Michael Cheika only found out about the incident on Monday - which explains why Ashley-Cooper made his international comeback following two years away from Test rugby against Italy last weekend.
“The players felt like we needed to make a stand on the small things – because small things are hurting us in games, the lineout call misheard, the loose pass thrown in the tackle,” Cheika told The Weekend Australian.
“There have been no Rugby Australia rules broken. It was purely an internal matter. Raelene Castle knows all of it and supports our stand.”
The Wallabies squad had been staying at the Celtic Manor Hotel in Newport ahead of the match, but reports suggest they were at an unnamed Cardiff hotel on the night of the game.
Beale had initially been dropped from Michael Cheika’s team to face England at Twickenham this weekend but injury to David Pocock had brought hope that Beale could be recalled to the bench after Peter Samu moved into the back-row.
Cheika had said Beale’s absence was due to form.
But after The Australian reported that Beale and Ashley-Cooper had been sanctioned, the Wallabies confirmed the news in a statement.
The Australian also reports that Cheika admitted the incident would have been covered up had it not been for questions from the media and that he even considered selecting the players to begin with, before again wrestling with reinstating Beale after Pocock’s injury.
Beale’s absence was already highprofile as it comes before Australia are due to wear their indigenous jersey for the first time outside of Australia - with Beale the only Aboriginal player in the squad.
Speaking before news of Beale’s sanction, Cheika said: “It’s tough but that’s part of footy, that’s the way it goes. You’ve got to be clear with why but then that’s it.
“I don’t want to be romantic about that type of stuff. It [the jersey] means a lot to all of us and Kurtley has shared a couple of stories this week.
“I don’t know if we’ve fired as much this year in the three-quarters and I want to play this game in a certain way and by going in with the thought of that strategy, I think I had to make some difficult decisions there.”