{"id":339680,"date":"2023-10-19T01:05:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T01:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=339680"},"modified":"2023-10-19T02:01:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-19T02:01:21","slug":"ceo-waugh-at-odds-with-eddie-over-world-cup-snubs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=339680","title":{"rendered":"CEO Waugh at odds with Eddie over World Cup snubs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby Australia<\/a> CEO Phil Waugh has stopped short of saying Eddie Jones<\/a> was wrong not to pick Michael Hooper<\/a> but believes his omission was "relevant" in the Wallabies'<\/a> lacklustre Rugby World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jones repeatedly danced around Hooper's inclusion, claiming on several occasions that a calf injury was keeping him out of the side<\/a>. That's despite rumours he was fit to play.<\/p>\n

Then, when the 25-man squad was named to travel to France<\/a>, Hooper was a curious absentee.<\/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><\/em><\/p>\n

That effectively ended Hooper's international playing career in the 15-man game. It's expected he'll start playing sevens in 2024.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Micheal<\/p>\n

Jones claimed he wanted to inject youth into the side and set them up for the 2027 Rugby World Cup, suggesting Hooper was past his best.<\/p>\n

"I don't know Michael very well and I've been in constant contact with Michael," Waugh told Chris O'Keefe on 2GB.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Australia's 2034 World Cup bid suffers cruel blow<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Rugby Australia boss' damning Eddie admission<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Dragons' 'major headache' after guilty verdict<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"As you say, over 120-odd Tests for the Wallabies and he was battling a calf injury going into the tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I think, in hindsight, some of those exclusions were pretty relevant in terms of the performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I can't say it enough, it was a really, really disappointing campaign for all Australians and we've got a lot of work to do."<\/p>\n

\"Rugby<\/p>\n

Hooper wasn't the only veteran to be snubbed.<\/p>\n

Quade Cooper<\/a> contested the Rugby Championship<\/a> and Bledisloe Cup<\/a> and all signs pointed towards his selection for the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Jones effectively ended his international career by leaving him out of the team.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he would have had Hooper and Cooper on the plane to France, Waugh danced around the question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"This is a dangerous piece where I know the game so well but I'm now CEO and not a selector, so it makes it difficult to get involved in selection decisions," he said.<\/p>\n

"But clearly, the performances, and individual performance as well as team performances weren't up to expectations of Australians."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby Australia CEO Phil Waugh has stopped short of saying Eddie Jones was wrong not to pick Michael Hooper but believes his omission was "relevant" […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":339682,"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\/339680"}],"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=339680"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":339685,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339680\/revisions\/339685"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/339682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=339680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=339680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=339680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}