Fairytale selection the Wallabies won’t make
WALLABIES coach Dave Rennie isn‘t advocating a free-for all when it comes to picking players who are based overseas as changes to the Giteau Law loom.
But he was thankful to be able to select Samu Kerevi for Sunday’s third Bledisloe Cup showdown with the All Blacks as he becomes the first overseas-based player that does not meet the current Giteau Law criteria to play for Australia.
Kerevi replaces Wallabies veteran Matt Toomua who was axed among eight changes to the 23-man team as the Quade Cooper fairytale came to an abrupt end.
Rennie made three changes to the starting line-up that was thrashed 57-22 at Eden Park last month – the biggest score the Australians have ever conceded to New Zealand, confident they were the tweaks needed to turn the tables on the Kiwis.
After a “lot of honesty” in a brutal review session post that loss in Auckland, Rennie said the players had acknowledged their performance was not up to international standard.
But finally back on home soil for a match delayed by a week when the All Blacks initially refused to leave Auckland, Rennie, who was “bloody angry” when that happened, said his players were ready to be better.
“We were fired up when we got the initial news, but there are enough motivating factors heading in to this test without talking about the All Blacks,”he said.
“We have to be a hell of a lot better. We are a lot better side that scoreline suggested. But I can say whatever here, it’s what we do on the park.
“I can assure you the team was hurting. We went through a review and there was a lot of honesty throughout that.
“We’ve made a couple of selection changes as well and I’m confident we will have a better defensive performance.”