Australia announces squad for Rugby World Cup 2015

August 21, 2015

australia

Michael Cheika has named his 31-man Wallaby squad for the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England. Stephen Moore captains the group as one of just two specialist hookers in the group, along with Tatafu Polota-Nau.

Cheika has also made the bold decision to pick just the two specialist scrum-halves, with Nick Phipps and Will Genia making the cut. Nic White, who was so instrumental in the win over the All Blacks earlier this month, can count himself hugely unlucky to miss out.

Other notable omissions include experience forwards Scott Higginbotham and James Horwill, while mooted new Wallaby Taqele Naiyaravoro also misses out – a decision that will intrigue both Fiji and Scotland, given that he hasn’t yet made an appearance for Australia.

Kane Douglas and Dean Mumm, both recently returned from long sojourns playing in Europe, make the cut ahead of Horwill, while Toulon duo Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell are also part of the 31-man group.

Giteau, Mitchell, captain Moore, Wycliff Palu and Adam Ashley-Cooper will all be competing at their third Rugby World Cup, while there are only 13 players that have no World Cup experience.

31-Man Wallabies Squad for Rugby World Cup 2015

Hookers
Stephen Moore – C (96 Tests)
Tatafu Polota-Nau (53 Tests)

Props
Greg Holmes (17 Tests)
Sekope Kepu (56 Tests)
Scott Sio (9 Tests)*
James Slipper (66 Tests)
Toby Smith (uncapped)*

Locks
Kane Douglas (15 Tests)*
Dean Mumm (36 Tests)
Rob Simmons (52 Tests)
Will Skelton (11 Tests)*

Backrow forwards
Scott Fardy (24 Tests)*
Michael Hooper – VC (45 Tests)*
Ben McCalman (40 Tests)
Sean McMahon (3 Tests)*
Wycliff Palu (55 Tests)
David Pocock (50 Tests)

Scrumhalves
Will Genia (59 Tests)
Nick Phipps (31 Tests)

Flyhalves
Quade Cooper (55 Tests)
Bernard Foley (17 Tests)*

Inside backs
Kurtley Beale (52 Tests)
Matt Giteau (95 Tests)
Matt Toomua (25 Tests)*

Outside backs
Adam Ashley-Cooper – VC (108 Tests)
Israel Folau (33 Tests)*
Rob Horne (26 Tests)
Drew Mitchell (65 Tests)
Henry Speight (3 Tests)*
Joe Tomane (15 Tests)*
Tevita Kuridrani (24 Tests)*

*Uncapped at a Rugby World Cup

Cheika has named an extra 10 player group that will continue to train with the squad in the build-up to the match with the USA in Chicago on September 5th. Those players are: Sam Carter, David Dennis, Tetera Faulkner, James Hanson, Scott Higginbotham, James Horwill, Samu Kerevi, Christian Lealiifano, Taqele Naiyaravoro, Nic White
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14 comments on “Australia announces squad for Rugby World Cup 2015”

  1. Jacob August 21, 2015 at 9:37 am -

    Few seriously big shocks here. I’ve always been a Higginbotham fan, and Nic White is a really good player.

    Surprised he’s only gone for two 9s and two hookers. Can Foley cover 9 if desperate?

    • McShane August 21, 2015 at 2:44 pm -

      After Cheika went through all that trouble to bring Douglas back to Australia, I think the ARU would’ve been pissed if he was left out of the squad.
      It’s a shame because I thought Horwill was far and away Australia’s best lock in TRC, but the only other person he could’ve dropped was Skelton, and Cheika was never going to do that.

  5. Doc August 21, 2015 at 11:19 am -

    Kudos to Genia for his reaction to being picked – getting in touch with White to offer condolences and say he hoped he did the selection justice is pretty admirable.

  7. kit August 21, 2015 at 7:10 pm -

    What are the rules with regards to calling in another player gets injured? If Moore or Polota-Nau get injured they could be in some real trouble!

    • kit August 21, 2015 at 7:15 pm -

      Just read that you can only call someone up if the person being replaced drops out completely, say Moore gets concussed in training a day or two before a game and therefore can’t play that match the Aussies could be in real trouble! I’d be asking my 3rd choice hooker to at least take a holiday somewhere in Europe!

  8. Stu August 21, 2015 at 8:37 pm -

    How does that work though, if one of the hookers is unavailable for only 1 game then no replacement can be called up but also you need a full front row replacement on bench don’t you? How would Aus get around that?

    • kit August 21, 2015 at 11:12 pm -

      Presumably they’ll get punished somehow, personally I’d have them forfeit the match, but then again I am English and therefore slightly bias against anything Aussie when it comes to sport!!!!!

  9. Sharpy August 21, 2015 at 8:44 pm -

    Naive beyond compare. He leaves out NW who has just beaten the AB’s.( you cannot underestimate the psychological importance of that). He picks some one ( WIll G) on what he has done ,not his underpar form. Great that he’s picked Cooper. His best rugby was 4years ago. Cheika’s hoping one of those 50/50 passes sticks at Twickenham. Surely World Cups are about players that give you a return under pressure cooker type conditions consistently .No Horwell. Good news for us me thinks.