{"id":326133,"date":"2023-08-26T00:20:07","date_gmt":"2023-08-26T00:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=326133"},"modified":"2023-08-26T01:00:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-26T01:00:28","slug":"schoolteachers-unlikely-rise-to-world-cup-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=326133","title":{"rendered":"Schoolteacher's unlikely rise to World Cup stage"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Wallabies prop Blake Schoupp<\/a> is still pinching himself as he prepares to make his Test debut against France in Paris on Monday (1.45am kickoff AEST).<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old Brumbies bolter has been \ufeffpicked on Australia's bench for the Rugby World Cup warmup game after coming from the clouds in his first season of Super Rugby.<\/p>\n

"At the end of the day, that's everyone's goal in Australian rugby. It has been a crazy 12 months but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking that," Schoupp said.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2023 Rugby World Cup and Summer Nations Series on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> All matches streaming ad free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Blake<\/p>\n

"Once I was in the Brumbies setup, I just thought anything could happen. It was a pretty whirlwind start to the journey."<\/p>\n

Schoupp was overlooked by the Waratahs while playing in the Shute Shield for Sydney's Southern Districts and working as a schoolteacher.<\/p>\n

But the man Eddie Jones famously described as a "brick shithouse" caught the eye of Brumbies scrum guru Dan Palmer, who is now a Wallabies assistant.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Disaster' strikes All Blacks on eve of Rugby World Cup<\/strong><\/a>\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Brother of NRL star named for Wallabies debut against France<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

CRAIG FOSTER: \ufeff<\/strong>'Disgusting' act jolts Australia from Matildas dream<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/StanSportRugby\/status\/1694618683157397619?s=20<\/a><\/p>\n

Schoupp is \ufeffthe older brother of Titans NRL player Aaron.<\/p>\n

"You're obviously looking for a few different things when you go and see a player like that," Palmer said.<\/p>\n

"Schouppy was clearly physically ready to take the next step. Technically, we saw a lot of potential, a lot of elements we thought we could work with and develop to get him that next step and then probably the most important part was his attitude. He desperately wanted to be a professional rugby player and since he started with us down at Brumbies, we've seen evidence of that.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

"Not everyone's coming from that base, but he certainly was. So that kind of gave him a head start coming into our program and then we could really focus on refining what he was doing technically around the scrum and other areas of the game to get him up to speed. But coming from that base was a massive benefit for him."<\/p>\n

Lock \ufeffWill Skelton<\/a> will become the 87th Wallabies captain when he leads the side onto Stade de France as named what appears close to his strongest starting XV.<\/p>\n

Force halfback \ufeffIssak Fines-Leleiwasa is also set for a debut after being named on the bench while winger Suliasi Vunivalu and centre Lalakai Foketi get starting opportunities to impress in place of veterans Marika Koroibete and Samu Kerevi.<\/p>\n

FRANCE (15-1):<\/strong> Thomas Ramos, Damian Penaud, Gael Fickou, Jonathan Danty, Gabin Villiere, Matthieu Jalibert, Antoine Dupont (c), Gregory Alldritt, Charles Ollivon, Francois Cros, Paul Willemse, Thibaud Flament, Uini Atonio, Julien Marchand, Jean-Baptiste Gros<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> Peato Mauvaka, Sebastien Taofifenua, Dorian Aldegheri, Romain Taofifenua, Cameron Woki, Paul Boudehent, Baptiste Couilloud, Melvyn Jaminet<\/p>\n

WALLABIES (15-1):<\/strong> \ufeffAndrew Kellaway, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Jordan Petaia, Lalakai Foketi, Suliasi Vunivalu, Carter Gordon, Tate McDermott, Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Tom Hooper, Will Skelton (c), Richie Arnold, Taniela Tupou, Dave Porecki, Angus Bell<\/p>\n

Reserves:<\/strong> \ufeffMatt Faessler, Blake Schoupp, Zane Nonggorr, Matt Philip, Rob Leota, Langi Gleeson, Issak Fines-Leleiwasa, Ben Donaldson<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Wallabies prop Blake Schoupp is still pinching himself as he prepares to make his Test debut against France in Paris on Monday (1.45am kickoff […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":325959,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=326133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326137,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326133\/revisions\/326137"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/325959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=326133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=326133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=326133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}