Folau makes Wallabies squad, Cooper misses out

Att: Redsman - your services required for anti Deans rant as "exceptional" Cooper is cut out like some cancerous lesion..

 BTW What happened at Bloemfantein as the Reds really sucked?

Form five-eighth Quade Cooper has been sensationally omitted from the first Wallabies squad to be named for the upcoming British and Irish Lions tour.

Cooper has missed out to James O'Connor, Christian Lealiifano and Berrick Barnes, who were all included as five-eighth options in the 25-man squad unveiled by Wallabies coach Robbie Deans in Sydney today (NZ time).

The Reds playmaker still has until June 11 to play his way into the eventual squad of 31 but with three options already included his chances appear limited.

Waratahs fullback Israel Folau made it into the squad after making his Super Rugby debut in February this year, while storming Brumbies fullback Jesse Mogg missed out.

Mogg was in strong contention for selection but did not make the cut. Just two other uncapped players were included in the group alongside Folau.

Mogg's Brumbies teammates Lealiifano and back rower Ben Mowen were the other two players who are now poised to make their Test debuts when the three-Test series kicks off in Brisbane on June 22.

Deans included both former Wallabies captains James Horwill and Will Genia in the squad but will not name a skipper until the 31-man group is named on June 11.

Brumbies winger Joe Tomane and Force winger Nick Cummins were also named, while veteran Test winger Drew Mitchell missed out.

Mitchell has recently returned to the Waratahs starting line up after overcoming a hamstring strain.

The departing winger, who will play in France next season, revealed on Twitter he had received a call from Deans, delivering the bad news, on Sunday morning.

"What was I thinking?! I answered the 1 call I shouldve screened ha. Congrats to the 25 men selected for @QantasWallabies. Get the job done," Mitchell wrote.

Deans's squad list was modified late last night after what appear to be season ending injuries to form flanker George Smith and hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau during the Waratahs upset win over conference leaders the Brumbies on Saturday.

Smith appears to have damaged the medial ligament in his left knee, while Polota-Nau has fractured his right forearm.

Centre Pat McCabe was also omitted after injuring his leg in the same game. Waratahs centre Rob Horne is included.

The squad is:

Backs: Israel Folau*, Digby Ioane, Joe Tomane, Nick Cummins, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Rob Horne, Pat McCabe, Christian Leali’ifano*, Berrick Barnes, James O’Connor, Will Genia.

Forwards: Wycliff Palu, Michael Hooper, Liam Gill, Scott Higginbotham, Ben Mowen*, Rob Simmons, James Horwill, Sitaleki Timani, James Slipper, Ben Alexander, Benn Robinson, Sekope Kepu, Stephen Moore, Saia Faingaa.

* Denotes uncapped player

Georgina Robinson

bugger, i recruited rob horne this week thinking he wouldnt make it in the squad, :o(

no real surprisees though, leaving cooper out was a mistake, but he only has to wait until mackezie is coach to reclaim that yello top.

moggs absence is pretty huge IMO, i thought for sure he would have been on of the shoe ins, especially based on his early season form where he was untouchable.

i think barnes inclusion is a mistake, but hes been a favourite of deano, especially last year when pickings were slim and he came thorugh more then once.

i wonder if both mogg and cooper will make the final 6 which are to be included later on??? i also wonder if george smith will have recovered by then and if so, will he be included???

Sasue

You said that Deans was going to hav the selected players withrawn from Super Series duty three weeks before the English tests - is that still so?  Because I will have o make serious adjustments to my fantasy team as a result.

Sas - I was also surprised at Hornes inclusion. Deans is holding the door open for both Cooper and Beale. He's handling Cooper the right way imo - telling him he has to earn it by his performance when the Reds play Lions. If Cooper has matured he will respond with a good game

CM - my understanding is that the current squad of 25 will only be held out Rd 17 which would be three weeks before the English tests

Oi-matey

Round 17 is the nightmare round and that is where we will have to correct the issue of selecion.   I have at present only 3 Aussie players on my team in Foxsport not on the Deans selection list.   What makes  it more complicated is that the Reds are not invoolved in rounds 17 and 18 - so I have to get anouther seven non-selected Aussie players in during the next three weeks and hope they give us six transfers before Round 17.  If we also get 6 transfers for Round 18 - I would be one player short in that round as well.  More if there are players I have on the bench not selected for Round 18.   i am now regretting using my wildcard so early - but one learns as time goes by and I will not make the same mistake next year.. 

Quade is unlucky to miss out. Only rugby related reason could be that he can lose a test through a mistake or two. Personally I would pick him and Genia as the Oz halfbacks. Oz I reckon will need to win this through the backs? George Smith being out is a set back.

Nightmare indeed.

@mikey,
i think that is still the case, i havent heard anything else since about rnd5 when the ARU announced it and ewan mackenzie and jake white had a huge cry over it cos of the number of star players in their teams.
so im guessing if nothings changed, those players will be pulled out either this week or next.

@oimatey,
i was shocked with hornes inclusion as well, i couldnt imagine hed make the starting 22 though, but then again i couldnt imagine hed make the squad, so who knows.
what i do know is i just wasted a selection on horne this week which is annoying, i could have brought in pyle instead, but now, tsk tsk tsk.

@beeno1 aka storminged,
smith being possibly out is not a setback, liam gill is hands down without question the form No7 of the entire comp IMO.

i would the cooper/genia combo too, one of the best combos in the world, but me thinks coopers omission has very little to do with onfield rugby reasons, cooper just simply burnt one too many bridges with his comments about the toxic enviroment and the fact if he was named in the team that week, he would refuse to play. that rubbed not only the wallaby staff and ARU the wrong way, that fudged off a lot of his teammates too.

@mikey & oimatey,

spot on oimatey. i just read ur comment about players will be missing for only round 17 and that does fit perfectly with the timing of the first test, so the players should only be missing for rnd 17, thanks matey, :o)

@saffex,
theres still 6 players to be indluded in the team and announced later on, but dont forget that polotunau and smith were late scratches from the team cos of the injuries they picked up.

mogg should will make the final 6 IMO, but he should have been included now.

got no problems with beales omission TBH, repping ur country dosent just start and stop when the ref blows his whistle, hes been too much of a dickhead lately and has more importnat things in his life that he needs to get sorted.

Sasue

And Cooper spoilt his copybook further - the Aussie farmers will hate him for that.  He said in Bloemfontein that the SA meat is better than what you can get in Australia and that biltong is a favourite of his.  Bloody traitor - that one.  LOL

Well considering all other opinions atm are from non-aussies allow me to shed some real perspective:

Omitting QC is simply a vendetta by Deans against QC becasue HE doesnt have the skills to man-manage this team and its stars effectively. He is stale and NEEDs to be sacked ASAP for the long term betterment of the wallabies. The fact Mogg too has been omitted also shows he is an idiot as Mccabe / Horne are in... Absolute idiot.

As I said the bright side being that AT least if wallabies lose to Lions - Deans will be looking for another job and supercoach McKenzie will take his place as the rightful hier to wallaby oversight... And then tri-nations and beldisloe dominance will return to Australia.

TPN injury is defintiely disappointing he would have been bench hooker his physicality will be severly missed. I know from local knowledge that Deans also has issues with Saia Fainagaa (hooker) so looks like Stephen Moore (as much as I like him) will be the 80min hooker....

As for reserve halfback... White from Brumbies should be a sure thing... Apparently 6positions still to be decided upon so lets wait and see....

• Ben Alexander
• Adam Ashley-Cooper
• Berrick Barnes
• Nick Cummins
• Dave Dennis
• Saia Faingaa
• Israel Folau
• Will Genia
• Liam Gill
• Scott Higginbotham
• Michael Hooper
• Rob Horne
• James Horwill
• Digby Ioane
• Sekope Kepu
• Christian Lealiifano
• Stephen Moore
• Ben Mowen
• James O'Connor
• Wycliff Palu
• Benn Robinson
• Rob Simmons
• James Slipper
• Sitaleki Timani
• Joe Tomane

To see what the weight of opinion really is here.... read the blogs on following article... you will then see that Deans has to go - kwis wouldnt put up with this crap just idiot John Oneill's legacy of screwing rugby in this country.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/wallabies/three-debutants-to-be-named-in-wallabies-squad-for-lions-tour-smith-polota-nau-to-miss-out/story-e6frf55l-1226646146914

And @kiwicrapbeer - wasnt coopers fault on the weekend - Genia much more to blame...

Deans has taken Australia away from it's traditional running game and tried to mimick AB physicality without the resources. That said, Cooper's cowardly performance at the RWC is what deep sixed the Aussie challenge. Who can say that he wont repeat that against the Lions....that botched tackle on van Zyl didn't look too swift, and all that lateral jinking just had him moving sideways along the Cheetahs defensive wall. He is fun to watch, but is he a winner?

I dont belive that you can judge Cooper just on his bad games.. 2011 Rigged RWC was obviously not his highlight (under coach deans for a start) but that same year he big part in winning s15 and Tri-nations comps. @2011 RWC the good-sported and good-natured kiwis started a vicious hate campaign against a young sportsman. This coupled with an idiot coach... yep he failed. I still maintain that under a differnet coach (Ewen McK) he would thrive @ wallabies 10. On saying all this though JOC is not a bad 10 and may well make the Aussie no 10 his jersey... Barnes at best is bench 10....

Dumbarse Red - thats why you'e not the Aussie coach.

Bottom line Cooper is a liablilty going on thirty turnovers so far is pathetic really -

you can't afford to do that playing the Lions especially. So wise decision from Deans...

and as i said, he can't tackle for shit therefore a liability in that dept as well.

Not to mention all the other shit he's said who needs that shit ?

 But If he really truly was any good then wouldn't the Kiwi be playing for the All Blacks ?

Finally … Mr Deans stands up for himself.

Cooper is a genius with ball in hand, the space he creates is second to none. His ability to create something from nothing is unparalleled. He is a pleasure to watch. With ball in hand, he is the one player you always expect something to happen.

I thnk Cooper has matured and with Genia creates a real threat. Will be surprised if he doesnt make the final squad. 

"Poor selections are Horne, McCabe, Barnes, Faingaa and Cummins.

Fair enough, I did not know some of those players were injured. My take was more about the selection of average players ahead of the likes of Beale, Mogg and Cooper.

Really the major positive is that post-Lions Ewen will be coached and Deans will be deported. This is actually what started all the vicious hate campaign against QC in sheepland.

 4 words

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