Wallabies call on teen
16 Nov 2009
Reds teenager Luke Morahan has been drafted into Australia’s squad as backline cover for their remaining two year-end Tests.
Fullback Adam Ashley-Cooper and centre Digby Iaone are nursing minor injuries sustained in their Test against Ireland on Sunday.
Berrick Barnes is out with an ankle injury picked up at the start of the tour and the Wallabies have also lost Stirling Mortlock to injury. Morahan, 19, has represented Australia at Sevens level, and debuted for the Reds in this Super 14 this season.
Meanwhile, the Wallabies lamented their 20-all draw at Croke Park. Digby Ione, the player most have blamed for allowing Brian O’Driscoll to slice through the defensive line for the decisive try in the last minute of play, was dejected when asked about the try.
‘O’Driscoll just ran a good line and the winger [Keith Earls] ran a good decoy,’ he said. Wallabies coach Robbie Deans added “that’s what pressure does – it creates doubt.”
Matt Giteau questioned an incident in the lead up to the try, but refused to blame that for the defeat.
‘Then next time the ref asked him to put it in and we didn’t feel that feed was quite straight,’ Giteau said. ‘That’s just making excuses, I suppose. Once we got to that lead, we should have held onto it.
‘And, as a unit, we probably didn’t defend as we should have. When they go to the line, as a side we all need to jam and take a man.’
18 Comments
16 Nov 2009, 11:20 am
Snotkop Dragon!
16 Nov 2009, 11:21 am
16 Nov 2009, 11:43 am
and these guys think they have the depth for a 5th super rugby team….surely this continuous drafting of talented yet baby-faced tiny growing teenagers isn’t good for their physical development
16 Nov 2009, 12:03 pm
#3 flanka: At least they win their mid-week tour games!
16 Nov 2009, 12:32 pm
It is making excuses Giteau but at least it is not as lame as blaming the Anthem.
16 Nov 2009, 12:33 pm
#4 WOLFMAN21: you could say that but thats coz they’re virtually playing they’re 1st string squad mid-week
16 Nov 2009, 12:36 pm
#5 wallabie.: everyone from pdv to big vic has stressed that the anthem issue has nothing to do with the result, so fish somewhere else
16 Nov 2009, 12:36 pm
#5 wallabie.: We’ll talk again when some halfwit with a cheap guitar rapes Waltzing Mathilda.
Hang on, that happens already.
16 Nov 2009, 12:54 pm
#8 katman: hahahahaha
16 Nov 2009, 13:07 pm
#6 flanka: Thats not true. Some players from the test side bench play mid-week games, and then a guy like Quade Cooper because Barnes was injured.
For all the talk about Australia’s **** depth in comparison to ours, they seem to always have players outside of the first two who can step up.
16 Nov 2009, 13:36 pm
#10 WOLFMAN21: but each position is 2 injuries away from a train-smash….this being a case in point example. Luke Morohan has played about 50 minutes of rugby for the Reds and the reason he’s been out the last 6 months was for a shoulder reconstruction after he bust it on his debut making attempting a simple tackle….he’s just a growing boy with no physical presence and now he’s being thrown into a Grand Slam Tour
16 Nov 2009, 14:19 pm
Who blames Digby Ioane? That was Quade Cooper’s channel.
He should have been covering the very spot O’Driscoll ran through, but instead he lazily drifted inside to put a half-arsed attempt on the dummy runner who was already marked by Giteau.
Back to the topic, we don’t need another winger over there, we need more inside back reserves.
And even if we did, surely Luke Morahan is not the next best winger in Australia.
I can think of plenty of wingers more deserving – Frankie Fainifo, Alfi Mafi, hell if you want to take a kid barely out of school, take one of the other young Reds wingers, Blair Connor or Rod Davies.
At least they have actually played S14 for longer than 20 minutes.
Or better yet take Ratu Nasiganiyavi if fit, the 20yr old 120kg younger cousin of Tuqiri.
16 Nov 2009, 15:16 pm
Well Deano is really scraping the bottom here. But at least he is scraping the right bottom, unlike SA’s midweek team who is scraping the wrong bottom. The midweek team is not really SA’s 2nd stringers. And although I am not complaining about PVD selections I do take heart in the fact that there better players available when really required.
17 Nov 2009, 02:34 am
I ‘ve seemn luke Morahan play sevens- a really good playmaker.
He single handedly changed Australia’s sevens team from rubbish to dangerous.
17 Nov 2009, 02:51 am
#14 SjamBok: Ive seen him play 7′s too….but we all know thats a totally different sport. If Habana gets injured we dont call on Stix do we? But anyway, my point is that regardless of how talented a 7′s player he is, he’s only played about one half of rugby for the reds and thats as far as his professional rugby union experience goes and now he’s being called upon as cover for a grand slam tour.
17 Nov 2009, 02:52 am
and he’s not a chile freak like steyn or even o’connor…in the 15 aside game he’s quite average
17 Nov 2009, 02:55 am
sorry, child freak*….they’d never admit it but theyre missing the solidity and intimidation of tuquiri at 11…and players like that take a while to come around in australia. I daresay he’s the best 11 theyve had since Campese even though i hate him. the drew mitchells and peter hynes’s of this world are the same as the ndungane twins…basics well but not much else extra
17 Nov 2009, 06:42 am
#17 flanka: Tuqiri a better 11 than Roff? Not a chance!
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