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Hansen puts faith in new blood for Australia Test squad

Chris Hewett
Thursday 08 May 2003 00:00 BST
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The best part of 40 years ago, Barry John and Mervyn Davies made their Test debuts for Wales against Australia and went on to become rather good at this international rugby lark.

It is asking a bit much of Adam Jones, Alix Popham and Gareth Delve to match the deeds of "King John" and "Merve the Swerve", for they are not obviously legends in the making: Jones is a prop of the roly-poly variety, Popham was forced to quit the Welsh club scene in search of a regular game, while Delve is a complete mystery to 99 per cent of his countrymen. Still, all three of them have the Wallabies in their sights.

Steve Hansen, the New Zealander who has just coached Wales to the Six Nations wooden spoon, named the uncapped trio in a 30-man squad for next month's Test in Sydney, followed by a meeting with the All Blacks in Hamilton. Those forced to give way include Martyn Madden, the explosive Llanelli front-rower, and two loose forwards in whom Hansen once placed an entire religion's worth of faith: Gavin Thomas of Bath and Richard Parks of Pontypridd.

Other prominent casualties include the two Llanelli centres, Leigh Davies and Matthew Watkins. It beggars belief that Wales can jettison a midfielder of Watkins' stamp, as he is by some distance the most creative outside-centre in the Principality. With the likes of Kevin Morgan, Craig Morgan and Dafydd James unavailable through injury, there is a glaring shortage of attacking edge about Hansen's latest selection. Presumably, Watkins is paying for his defensive frailties. A sign of the times, sadly.

Of the newcomers, Jones made out a strong case for promotion with some high-quality displays for Neath towards the end of this season's Celtic League campaign, while Popham, much talked-about down Newport way a couple of years back but now reduced to a bit-part English Premiership role at Leeds, may come through; he has the physical assets to make a name for himself in the southern hemisphere.

Delve is a shot in the dark. Still seven months short of his 21st birthday, he has made only six Premiership appearances for Bath, all off the bench. The West Countrymen love him to bits, but his progress has been slowed by serious shoulder and knee conditions.

Unusually, Hansen decided against naming a tour captain. He named four, instead: the outside-half Stephen Jones, the hooker Robbie McBryde and two back-rowers, Colin Charvis and Martyn Williams.

Charvis would have led his country through the Six Nations tournament had he not suffered a crisis of confidence after the defeat in Italy, and the coach still considers him a world-class talent. If he makes the starting line-up against the Wallabies, he will probably be given charge of the show.

Meanwhile, Phil Vickery of Gloucester will lead an England XV in their annual match with the Barbarians at Twickenham this month, his first taste of international leadership since the outstanding victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires last summer. The Lions' tight-head prop is close to optimum fitness after a worrying bout of back trouble, and will definitely travel to New Zealand and Australia with England this summer if he successfully negotiates the run-in to the domestic season.

Another familiar Gloucestershire figure, Chris White of Cheltenham, will control the Heineken Cup final between Perpignan and Toulouse in Dublin a fortnight on Saturday.

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