Illness sweeping through Wallabies camp in London

Tue, Nov 20, 2018, 1:13 PM
Beth Newman
by Beth Newman
A man of few words, Pete Samu is ready to let his actions do the talking if he's required to fill the boots of David Pocock. If given the opportunity he and Izack Rodda will both make their first appearances at the home of rugby, Twickenham.

A bug has swept through Wallabies camp in England but the side is adamant it won't affect their preparations for Sunday morning's Twickenham showdown.

Wallabies fullback Israel Folau was the most affected as early as last week, playing through the illness in the Wallabies' 26-7 win over Italy in Padova.

Folau was heavily criticised for some uncharacteristic errors in Italy, including a line break that ended up in the usually quick fullback being chased down on the way to the line.

The 29-year-old only ate solid food for the first time on Tuesday morning local time, after days inflicted with the bug.

Both he and Bernard Foley sat out Wallabies training on Monday local time and while more were expected to be sidelined, the entire squad warmed up including Folau and Foley.

"There was a few guys crook through the Italy game, a few played through and whatnot and then a few guys missed out at training yesterday," defence coach Nathan Grey said.

"I think it's something that, it happens when you're touring and whatnot but a few guys just sat out of training yesterday.

"Squizz (Folau) had a bit of stuff floating through and then Bernard and a few of the other boys just missed out training yesterday."

It's not clear exactly where the bug originated but Grey said the team was simply getting on with business.

"Yeah, it's not ideal but s*** happens," he said.

"No it's not (ideal) but it's part of footy, so just got to get on with it and those guys, no one's going to die.

"A few guys won't train today. The guys who are ready to go, the doc will green light them and then they're on."

With only four days to go until their Test against England, it could leave Australia having to pick a team that is unable to fully train together beforethe Test but Grey said that was only giving them a chance to see some other players play different roles.

"It's not but it's one of those things where you get to this time of the year on a tour and everyone's pretty across the way that we want to play and then at training yesterday, we've got guys dropping in at different positions which are great," he said.

"We've got the luxury in the squad as well of having guys who can play multiple positions, can play up in the front line, backfield and whatnot.

"It actually provides a bit of an opportunity to see how those guys are going in those situations and it gives us lots of opportunities and headaches around selections, depending on what we're going to cop on Saturday.

"We saw under the roof in Wales, nice dry quick track and we've seen, we all know what Twickenham can be like.

"So, that, a little bit of illness has forced us to have a bit of a look at how we can do things and we've got a bit of luxury with some guys to mix it up."

The Wallabies take on England at Twickenham on Saturday November 24, kicking off at 3pm local, Sunday 2am AEDT, LIVE on beIN Sports and SBS.

Share
Force 'heart and soul' Pomare set to reach rare Super W milestone
Michael Hooper is excited about the challenge of playing Sevens in Hong Kong. Photo: Nick Holland/RA Media
'Rookie' ex-Wallabies skipper Hooper ready to step up Sevens unknown
'Brumbies DNA': Wallabies selections on the line for Reds clash - Larkham
'It's pretty hard to leave an environment like this': Jorgensen eager to commit future to Waratahs