Wallabies call in backline support

21 Jun 2010

Luke Burgess and Adam Ashley-Cooper will replace the injured Will Genia and Digby Ioane when the Wallabies face Ireland on Saturday.

Genia, who just returned from injury last weekend, suffered a broken hand in the Wallabies’ 21-20 defeat to England, while Ioane suffered a serious shoulder injury. The Reds wing will miss the Wallabies’ Tri-Nations campaign as he will undergo shoulder reconstruction.

Genia’s injury is not as serious and is expected to recover in time for the Tri-Nations. However, he will sit out this weekend with Burgess starting at scrumhalf. Ashley-Cooper will start at wing. Josh Valentine is likely to provide No 9 cover on the bench while wings Peter Hynes or Lachie Turner will feature amongst the reserves.

Head coach Robbie Deans said he was frustrated by the Wallabies’ performance against England last weekend.

‘We made some progress in the scrum, we’ve still got a way to go, but some of the other elements of the game dropped off,” Deans told smh.com.au. ‘There was probably a degree of comfort possibly magnified by the ease at which we scored when we had good set-piece possession and sometimes that can be counter-productive. Blokes then sit there and wait for it to happen, but it doesn’t happen at Test level.’

Skipper Rocky Elsom said their lacklustre performance was a result of attitude and technical deficiencies.

‘We went away from the game that we wanted to play, it turned a lot slower than we would have liked and we weren’t able to have the impact in the contest we wanted,’ Elsom said, adding that Ireland will be desperate to make up for the loss to the NZ Maori last Friday.


5 Comments

  • 1.Staal: Reply to this comment
    21 Jun 2010, 07:52 am

    Walla Dragons are feeling the heat? :lol:

  • 2.Sonito: Reply to this comment
    21 Jun 2010, 07:57 am

    Aussies could struggle to win this one also.

  • 3.grant10: Reply to this comment
    21 Jun 2010, 07:59 am

    go Ireland….

  • 4.Tomsta: Reply to this comment
    21 Jun 2010, 08:43 am

    elsom was a waste of personnel on the pitch. hodgson would have contributed a lot more.
    genia didnt look fit from the start. was surprised that deans risked him.
    cooper was put in his place, never had space to do his thing and looked a little out of sorts when under the cosh.

    have to say that steve thompson is such a twit. good player but such an ego needs to be smashed :)

    have to think that deans will want to build up more depth and hope that end of year tour and next year are injury free with everyone fit for selection.

  • 5.Lions_Soutie: Reply to this comment
    21 Jun 2010, 09:53 am

    When I saw the Poms backrow I knew they meant business. I rate Croft from the Lions tour

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