{"id":67878,"date":"2021-05-06T04:26:59","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T04:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=67878"},"modified":"2021-05-06T10:03:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T10:03:18","slug":"the-forgotten-wallabies-star-left-out-in-the-cold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=67878","title":{"rendered":"The forgotten Wallabies star left out in the cold"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie would love to see forgotten man Sean McMahon return to Super Rugby and mount a charge for World Cup selection.<\/p>\n

But Rennie isn't about to bend over backwards or launch a charm offensive towards the 26-year-old loose forward, who played 26 Tests for Australia between 2014-17.<\/p>\n

McMahon is playing for Japanese heavyweights Suntory Sungoliath but is keen to wear the Wallabies jersey again.<\/p>\n

Problem is, Rennie's strong preference is for Test contenders to be playing their club rugby in Australia.<\/p>\n

The only place rugby fans can watch every match is Stan Sport. Start your free sport trial now!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The likes of McMahon, Samu Kerevi, Will Skelton and Rory Arnold would add serious punch to the Wallabies' 2023 World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n

"We've spoken to a number of former Wallabies who are plying their trade around the world and Sean is one of those," Rennie told reporters on Thursday.<\/p>\n

"I had a chat to him when I first arrived here and then maybe about three months ago.<\/p>\n

"So we're keen to get those guys back and play Super Rugby and hopefully force their way in to a World Cup side. But I'm not sure, things haven't really progressed since we spoke maybe three months ago."<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Selection shocks for Super Rugby final<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> The greatest Aussie Super Rugby clash ever?<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Oldest living Wallabies player turns 100<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n

The emergence of young backrowers Harry Wilson, Rob Valetini and Fraser McReight has clearly given Rennie comfort in his domestic stocks to pair with captain Michael Hooper.<\/p>\n

Brumbies tyro Valetini looks odds on to start at blindside flanker in the July Test series against France and the 22-year-old this week re-signed with Rugby Australia through till the end of 2023.<\/p>\n

"It's incredibly pleasing to re-sign a player of Rob's potential," Rennie said.<\/p>\n

""We saw really big shifts from Rob in the last weeks of our campaign in 2020 and to\u00a0his credit he's worked incredibly hard in the offseason and has been a standout performer for the Brumbies week in, week out.<\/p>\n

"His impact on the game, with or without the ball is impressive and that's exciting for the Wallabies moving forward."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rennie, of course, will be the keenest of spectators in a Suncorp Stadium crowd that could approach 50,000 for Saturday's Super Rugby AU grand final between the Reds and Brumbies.<\/p>\n

The Kiwi described the two teams as "dominant" this season and said their regular season match-ups – both won by two points by the Reds – were "two of the best games in a long period of time in Australian rugby."<\/p>\n

"So it should be a doozy," Rennie added.<\/p>\n

"There's a lot of spots that are really competitive so no better time to make a statement than in a final I reckon."<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Star NRL convert Suliasi Vunivalu won't play in the decider after his debut Reds season was blighted by injury and a court appearance.<\/p>\n

But Rennie said the winger remained firmly in his selection plans and hoped to see him strutting his stuff soon in Super Rugby trans-Tasman.<\/p>\n

The championship-winning former Chiefs coach would be also be playing close attention to the Super Rugby Aotearoa grand final that precedes the Brisbane blockbuster.<\/p>\n

"Both these games will have a real high intensity and certainly a lot closer to Test footy than an average Super game," Rennie said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"So that's really important, that these guys are put under a bit of pressure to utilise the skills they've got. I think it's going to be a great matchup and really looking forward to it.<\/p>\n

"We've got the luxury of watching trans-Tasman games over the next 5-6 weeks so that will give us a good indication of the shifts we need to make prior to Bledisloe Cup games. It's going to be tough, the Kiwis have got five good teams.<\/p>\n

"That's what we're excited about \u2013 I know all the teams are excited to test themselves against the New Zealand teams. To give you an idea of the sort of intensity that's going to be required when we start playing Test footy."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie would love to see forgotten man Sean McMahon return to Super Rugby and mount a charge for World Cup selection. But […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"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\/67878"}],"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=67878"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67880,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67878\/revisions\/67880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}