Jones picks 6 rookies for his first Wallabies camp of 2023

SYDNEY (AP) — Eddie Jones omitted halves options James O’Conner, Tate McDermott and Noah Lolesio and selected six uncapped players, including teenager Max Jorgensen and Melbourne playmaker Carter Gordon, in a 33-man squad for his first camp since returning as head coach of the Wallabies.

With limited time and test matches to prepare Australia’s team for a Rugby World Cup kicking off in September, Jones has had to use p layer form in Super Rugby Pacific as a primary criteria for selection. Although he has picked seven overseas-based players, including veteran flyhalves Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley and center Samu Kerevi, to participate in the April camp via Zoom.

Reds flyhalf Tom Lynagh, the 19-year-old son of World Cup winner and Wallabies great Michael Lynagh, was among six players not considered for the training camp because of injuries.

“It’s no secret what I’ve been looking for,” Jones said as he announced the squad late Sunday. “And in the players selected for this first camp they’ve delivered on work rate, effort and intent. What they haven’t delivered on in Super Rugby is winning, particularly against New Zealand teams.

“Competitive doesn’t cut it. We will build a winner’s mindset in the Wallabies players, and we will win games."

Jones said the first Wallabies camp of the season was just a step along the way.

“I’ve said it a million times. We have the talent in Australia but not the team," he said.

As well as 18-year-old Jorgensen and 22-year-old Gordon, Jones picked 21-year-old Reds center Josh Flook, 23-year-old Brumbies prop Blake Schoupp, Melbourne Rebels backrower Brad Wilkin and Brumbies scrumhalf Ryan Lonergan in a Wallabies camp for the first time. Lonergan was picked as understudy to Brumbies No. 9 Nic White at the expense of McDermott.

Underutilized rugby league convert Suliasi Vunivalu was retained in the squad as a candidate to play on the wing.

Jones highlighted Jorgensen's pace and the need for speed in the back three at test level and said “he’s got great instincts about him, he’s got courage, so he’s got all of the attributes of being a very good test player.”

In selecting Gordon as a potential No. 10, Jones said “he’s got that feel for the game of when to flatten up and when to be a little bit deeper, which is a bit of a lost art.”

Jones guided Australia to the Rugby World Cup final in 2003, an extra-time loss to England, during his initial stint as Wallabies coach from 2001 to 2005. He worked with South Africa's national team and Japan before taking on the England job in the wake of the country's group-stage exit in the World Cup it hosted in 2015.

He won the Six Nations three times and steered England to the World Cup final in 2019 but was fired last December following a poor run of six losses in 12 tests. He moved back to Australia in January to replace Dave Rennie, who led the Wallabies to wins in just five of 14 test matches last year.

Australia is scheduled to play just five tests before the World Cup.

Jones said everyone selected for the camp was “in my World Cup plans” and challenged the players who were left out to prove him wrong.

“If you are in it, the challenge is to stay in it,” he said. "If you are not in it, how do you get in it? Players select themselves.”

Squad:

Allan Alaalatoa, Ben Donaldson, Pone Fa’amausili, Josh Flook, Lalakai Foketi, Nick Frost, Langi Gleeson, Carter Gordon, Ned Hanigan, Reece Hodge, Michael Hooper, Jed Holloway, Len Ikitau, Max Jorgensen, Andrew Kellaway, Lachlan Lonergan, Ryan Lonergan, Fraser McReight, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Cadeyrn Neville, Jordan Petaia, David Porecki, Tom Robertson, Pete Samu, Blake Schoupp, James Slipper, Darcy Swain, Jordan Uelese, Rob Valetini, Suliasi Vunivalu, Nic White, Brad Wilkin, Tom Wright.

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