{"id":330856,"date":"2023-09-13T22:47:15","date_gmt":"2023-09-13T22:47:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330856"},"modified":"2023-09-14T02:03:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-14T02:03:12","slug":"greats-surprise-concern-over-new-wallabies-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=330856","title":{"rendered":"Great's surprise 'concern' over new Wallabies star"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAINT-ETIENNE:<\/strong> Wallabies great Mat Rogers has poured cold water on the Ben Donaldson hype train, voicing concerns about the fullback's defence ahead of Monday's (AEST) crucial Rugby World Cup<\/a> clash with Fiji.<\/p>\n

Donaldson was a surprise choice to wear the gold No.15 \ufeffjersey for the first time as Australia opened its campaign with a solid 35-15 win against Georgia.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Randwick product won man of match for his two-try, 25-point haul in Paris and is at short odds to be named at fullback again \ufeffwhen Eddie Jones shows his hand on Friday.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Donaldson<\/p>\n

But Rogers, who started the 2003 World Cup final at fullback under Jones, urged his former coach not to forget about the merits of the discarded Andrew Kellaway.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I don't think they have to keep him (Donaldson)," Rogers said on Stan Sport's RWC 2023 Central<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"I think what you you lose in goal kicking, you make up for in playing ability. I'm not taking anything away from Ben Donaldson's performance but this is going to be an incredibly physical match.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Greats miffed as players exploit loophole at RWC<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> SBW's rock star treatment leaves colleagues in awe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Almost identical' incident clouds RWC in confusion<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

"And I think Andrew Kellaway plays the game a little more physical than Ben Donaldson. I noticed a couple of things that I wasn't rapt with, with Ben's performance defensively (against Georgia).<\/p>\n

"And that's a concern given who we're coming up against in Fiji."<\/p>\n

Donaldson missed just one shot at goal against Georgia after Jones decided to relieve five-eighth Carter Gordon of the goalkicking duties.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Michael Atkinson and Tom Decent unpack a strong start by the Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup and discuss their 'interesting' relationship with Eddie Jones<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/rugby-world-cup-inside-line\/playlists\/podcast\/embed?style=cover<\/a><\/p>\n

Rogers was asked whether Jones might consider starting Donaldson at No.10, where he has played the majority of his rugby, while handing a reprieve to the unlucky Kellaway.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"If Ben Donaldson's going to play either Andrew Kellaway is going to miss out or Carter Gordon's going to miss out and that's a decision that the coach has to make," Rogers said.<\/p>\n

"Which player can he afford to leave out to make sure that we're kicking goals? I probably wouldn't leave out Carter Gordon.<\/p>\n

\"Gordon's<\/p>\n

"I like the look of Carter Gordon. I like his ability to run the ball.<\/p>\n

"I think he's got good vision, he's learning the game.<\/p>\n

"I just think Kellaway needs to be in the 23 at worst, if not starting."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAINT-ETIENNE: Wallabies great Mat Rogers has poured cold water on the Ben Donaldson hype train, voicing concerns about the fullback's defence ahead of Monday's (AEST) […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":330858,"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\/330856"}],"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=330856"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330861,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330856\/revisions\/330861"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/330858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}