Category: Australia Rugby

• Australia centre’s tour ended after red card in win over Wales
• Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in frame to return for Test against Scotland

A three-match suspension has ended Samu Kerevi’s tour, jolting his longer-term Wallabies hopes and opening the door for Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s return against Scotland.

The centre’s yellow card for a high shot was upgraded to a 20-minute red in Australia’s defeat of Wales in Cardiff. On Wednesday the 31-year-old’s fate was sealed, a disciplinary committee upholding the on-field decision and halving the standard six-week ban due to his guilt, remorse and good record.

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Australia centre Samu Kerevi will miss Sunday’s match against Scotland after being hit with a ban for his high tackle on Wales’ Jac Morgan, which could see rugby league convert Joseph Suaalii return to the starting line-up.

While Joseph Suaalii enjoyed a man-of-the-match debut for the Wallabies in last week’s win over England, Australia didn’t need the 21-year-old to cruise to a 52-20 win against Wales on Monday morning.

Tom Wright and Matt Faessler scored a hat-trick of tries each as Australia thrashed Wales 52-20 in Cardiff to consign Warren Gatland’s team to a national record of 11 consecutive Test losses.

Cheslin Kolbe scored two tries as world champions South Africa inflicted yet more November international misery upon England with a 29-20 win at Twickenham on Saturday.

Warren Gatland’s side take on the Wallabies knowing defeat will mean they surpass their longest run of Test losses

Another match, another inquest into the state of Welsh rugby. This time, the hand-wringing is particularly fervent, for Wales stand on the brink of an unwanted threshold. Should they lose to Australia in Cardiff on Sunday they will surpass their longest run of Test defeats.

Losing to Fiji last weekend was upsetting on any number of levels, but the sharpest pain was the fact it was a 10th defeat in a row, equalling the run under Steve Hansen that stretched from 2002 to 2003, the year they last collected the wooden spoon in the Six Nations.

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Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed Joseph Suaalii will start Australia’s Test against Wales in Cardiff on the bench despite setting the rugby world alight in his debut against England.

Joseph Suaalii was Monday hailed as a “freak” by his Australian midfield partner Len Ikitau while head coach Joe Schmidt said the former NRL star’s debut was “confidence-boosting”.

Australia’s Brett Robinson said it was a “proud moment” for him after he became the first chairman of World Rugby from the southern hemisphere on Thursday and vowed to unify all the different factions.

• Winger forced to leave camp after picking up calf injury
• Josh Flook called up as replacement ahead of Wales game

The Wallabies must make at least two enforced team changes after winger Dylan Pietsch was forced out of the grand slam spring tour of Europe with a calf injury.

Pietsch is on his way back home to Australia after hurting himself in the Wallabies’ 42-37 tour-opening triumph over England at Twickenham on Sunday morning.

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No longer wanted by Queensland and the Wallabies, former Storm premiership winner and code-hopper Suliasi Vunivalu is expected to continue his rugby career in France.

Joseph Suaalii was Monday hailed as a “freak” by his Australian midfield partner Len Ikitau after an eye-catching performance against England in his first game of professional rugby union.

The code-hopper is the talk of the rugby union world after making light of expectations and the occasion at Twickenham on his Wallabies debut

Picture this; you’re 21-years-old, you’ve been the most talked about player in rugby union for a month straight, you’re playing your first senior game, your first of any kind in this code since you were a teenager, and you’ve just stepped out to start for your country at Twickenham, the home of rugby. We all know that elite athletes are cut from a different cloth but it’s worth lingering on the staggering set of circumstances that preceded Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii’s Test debut.

Simply not stinking up the place with a string of errors would have been enough. If he’d managed to hold onto the ball and land a few tackles then Joe Schmidt and Rugby Australia could have argued that there was tangible hope in a return of their substantial investment in this unproven prospect. He looked the part, all 1.98m and 98kg of him. But could he handle the bright lights and weight of expectation? We had our answer shortly before kick-off.

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Joseph Suaalii has put to bed any dispute about NRL players being far superior footballers to their rugby union rivals.

Retired England great Ben Youngs’ sledge of the Wallabies in the lead-up to Australia’s drought-breaking 42-37 win against England at Twickenham backfired spectacularly.