For Pete's sake: What the Samu tug-of-war is really about
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Two days ago the Wallabies squad announcement was shaping up as one of the least interesting unveilings in recent memory.
Not because there aren’t exciting things brewing in the gold jersey, but because no one was expecting any surprises. Michael Cheika has been developing this crop of players, dropping their names in media calls, for the past 12 months or more.
Man in the middle: Pete Samu is the subject of a selection wrangle between Australia and New Zealand.
Photo: AP
Sure enough, the names Cheika read out live on television from the home dressing-room at Suncorp Stadium, where the Wallabies will face Ireland in the first Test next Saturday, were largely expected.
But outside the live broadcast bubbles in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, where a clutch of the top Test players were on hand to talk up the three-Test series, drama unfolded apace.
On one side, Cheika was learning the year’s worth of goodwill he’d pumped into the Australian high-performance framework by sending Wallabies coaches around to the Super Rugby teams was not delivering for him quite as he’d hoped. Sure, he could ask the Brumbies to rest star trio David Pocock, Scott Sio and Allan Alaalatoa but would they give him a tap on the bum and say ‘no problem, Cheik!’? Incorrect.
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