Beale call-up on cards after injured Hodge leaves Wallabies tour
COACH Dave Rennie will have to look for more overseas reinforcements for the Wallabies’ northern hemisphere tour after ruling out Reece Hodge for the rest of the year.
Hodge suffered a pectoral injury in Saturday’s 32-23 win over Japan and scans confirmed he would be sidelined for a considerable time.
The injury follows the loss of Japan-based duo Samu Kerevi and Sean McMahon, who opted not to travel to Europe, a decision that raised the ire of Rugby Australia.
Quade Cooper could also join the exodus to link up with his Japanese club.
Rennie said the latest injury, exits and absence of star winger Marika Koroibete and Pone Fa’amausili from the original 37-man squad left the Wallabies “a bit thin”.
With regular fullback Tom Banks also out with a broken arm, Kurtley Beale, who is playing in England, will likely join the squad, but Rennie will have to add a few more names too.
The coach said he was hesitant to look back to Australia to avoid jeopardising players’ pre-seasons.
“We’ll need more than one with leaving Marika and Pone at home and we didn’t replace any of those guys,” he said.
“With Hodgey injured and those guys not coming from Japan, we’re just a little bit thin.
“We’ve got to get board approval because again our preference is to not drag those guys over from Australia. They’re a fair way through their time off and active rest. We’ve got a really good plan for them for the pre-season.
“We’ve made contact with Kurtley, and we’ve had conversations with Kurtley over a period of time.
“He’s made it really clear his desire to be a Wallaby again, and with the introduction of some of the guys he played with previously, he was pretty excited by that.”
The Wallabies will play Tests against Scotland, England and Wales from November 8.