The Wallabies have been rocked by a late injury to Quade Cooper in the warm-up ahead of the first Test against England in Perth. Follow our live coverage | SMHsport
The day two shy teenagers called Robert came to Melbourne training and tore into the scariest player at the club is burned into the memory of those who saw it.The year was 2015 and rising academy juniors Rob Leota, 18, and Rob Valetini, just 17, had been invited to pre-season training with the Rebels.
“We wanted to have a look at them and they were very quiet, they turned up in their academy kit,” Rebels chief executive Baden Stephenson recalls.“Lopeti was usually super aggressive and someone most people would look to avoid but those two both ripped into him,” Stephenson said. “Guys like Colby Faingaa and Higgers and others were saying, ‘Who the hell are these guys?’ These two youngsters were just having a massive crack, with and without the ball. They didn’t have any fear.”The big question: who will win?England Rugby paid for new Wallabies hooker Dave Porecki’s transformation from a player who couldn’t ‘hit a barndoor’ into Australia’s best lineout thrower.in Porecki’s debut Test in Perth, when they encounter the 29-year-old at lineout time.
Porecki and lock Cadeyrn Neville are both playing in their first Tests and after only two weeks of training, will need to nail their throwing and jumping assignments or an England team stocked with four lineout forwards will rumble the vital source of possession. The Wallabies scored a majority of their tries from lineouts in 2021 but Porecki has never thrown in-game to any of the Wallabies’ designated jumpers, at any level.
England skipper Courtney Lawes said they would be looking to shut down parts of the Wallabies’ game and indicated they’d look to test the new Wallabies’ hooker.
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