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Rugby

21st Aug 2015

This morning’s Australian World Cup squad unveiling verged on the ridiculous

What next?

Patrick McCarry

Lucky they are not sponsored by Jake B. Buncey’s fleet of ice cream vans.

Australia are the latest rugby nation to announce their World Cup squad and the headline news say Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell in, while former captain James Horwill was left out.

The Wallabies also gave a tip of their hat to the past as each of the squad received the ‘good news mate’ phone-call from a member of of the 1999 Australian team that won the tournament.

However, the official unveiling of each Aussie player had more drawn out drama than an X Factor episode.

Sponsored by Qantas, each of the Wallabies stepped from a Boeing jet and take his place on the boarding stairs.

We hope the IRFU has nothing similar planned for Paul O’Connell and his Irish teammates…

Here is the 31-man Australian squad.

Forwards: S Moore, T Polota-Nau, G Holmes, S Kepu, S Sio, J Slipper, T Smith, K Douglas, D Mumm, R Simmons, W Skelton, S Fardy, M Hooper, B McCalman, S McMahon, W Palu, D Pocock.

Backs: W Genia, N Phipps, Q Cooper, B Foley, K Beale, M Giteau, M Toomua, A Ashley-Cooper, I Folau, R Horne, D Mitchell, H Speight, J Tomane, T Kuridrani.

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