Gordon, Horne called up to Wallabies squad
Waratahs scrum-half Jake Gordon and centre Rob Horne have been called up to the Wallabies squad as injury replacements for their Tests against Fiji, Scotland and Italy.
23-year-old Gordon gets his chance after an ankle injury to Nick Phipps. Gordon, who has started more games than Phipps for the Waratahs this season, has impressed plenty and was considered unlucky to miss out on the initial squad.
Phipps suffered an ankle syndesmosis injury in the Waratahs’ loss to the Highlanders a week ago and was initially believed to be out of the woods for Test duty in June.
Scans in Sydney this week, though uncovered something more sinister, ruling Will Genia’s back-up out of the June Series.
Experienced Waratahs campaigner Horne will also come into the squad, to replace Samu Kerevi, who is also out with syndesmosis.
Kerevi went down in the opening 10 minutes of the Reds’ loss to the Blues in Samoa on Friday night, with the prognosis emerging post-match.
It’s a cruel blow for the Reds stand-in skipper, who missed the Wallabies’ 2016 end-of-year tour with injury as well.
Horne’s inclusion is an interesting one, with the Waratahs back heading offshore at the end of the season, among a group of players initially left out of Wallabies coach Michael Cheika’s squad.
Cheika said at the time that those overseas bound players would be called on if required in the starting team, but not picked in the wider squad in favour of players who would be in Australia for 2018 and beyond.
“Jake was involved in our camp in Canberra earlier this year and has really stepped up for the Waratahs in Super Rugby. He’s another uncapped player but it will be good to expose him to the Test environment,” Cheika said in a release.
“Rob has been a strong leader in our Wallabies environment and his experience will be invaluable in this relatively inexperienced squad.
“We really want to put a strong emphasis on leadership in this team and we have some young leaders in this squad who are continuing to develop.”