Australia announce World Cup squad

Australia named their 30-man squad to contest the Rugby World Cup in France.

There were a couple of surprises in the Wallaby selections, notably the choice at prop of last season’s rookie-of-the-year Greg  Holmes over Benn Robinson, and Al Baxter coming in ahead of Rodney ‘Rodzilla’ Blake.

“The fact that he (Blake) doesn’t play both sides of the scrum was a factor. Obviously it became a shootout between him and Al and Al is just as comfortable at loose head as he is at tight head,” explained Wallaby coach Knuckles Connolly.

Another shock was the selection of Berrick Barnes at flyhalf ahead of Sam Norton-Knight.

“It was a tough decision. We had to firstly decide whether we took another centre or another 10. Once we decided that we didn’t want to move Huxley to 10 and Mark Gerrard to full-back, that ruled out the centre option and it became which 10.

“We did look at a lot of options. Behind Stephen, it’s fair to say Matt Giteau is probably our second 10 but we wanted a third 10 on board and Berrick got the nod. But it was a very debated issue,” said Connolly

Stirling Mortlock was named captain of the Wallaby World Cup side.

“It’s a massive honour but I think the World Cup is slightly different rugby as far as the intensity and build-up that goes with it,” said Mortlock.

“There’s the long-term goal of obviously winning the World Cup with the short-term games to focus on. It’s a little bit of a different perspective, but I’m obviously happy that I’ve got excellent leaders around me.”

The full Australian World Cup squad

Chris Latham (fullback)
Julian Huxley (fullback)
Lote Tuqiri (wing)
Adam Ashley-Cooper (wing)
Drew Mitchell (wing)
Mark Gerrard (wing)
Stirling Mortlock (Captain) (centre)
Scott Staniforth (centre)
Matt Giteau (centre)
Berrick Barnes (flyhalf)
Stephen Larkham (flyhalf)
George Gregan (Vice-captain) (scrumhalf)
Sam Cordingley (scrumhalf)
Wycliff Palu (eighthman)
David Lyons (eighthman)
Stephen Hoiles (eighthman)
George Smith (flank)
Phil Waugh (Vice-captain) (flank)
Rocky Elsom (flank)
Hugh McMeniman (flank)
Dan Vickerman (lock)
Nathan Sharpe (lock)
Mark Chisholm (lock)
Guy Shepherdson (prop)
Al Baxter (prop)
Matt Dunning (prop)
Greg Holmes (prop)
Stephen Moore (hooker)
Adam Freier (hooker)
Sean Hardman (hooker)