'Players who can grow': Eddie Jones explains 'interesting' Wallabies selections

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones made international rugby headlines earlier this month as he named his first national squad ahead  of a training camp on the Gold Coast.

Jones named a star-studded squad which boasts an exciting mix of experience and youth, but there were also plenty of surprises – including a few shocking omissions.

For quite some time now, Brumbies playmaker Noah Lolesio has been touted as one of the Wallabies’ best options at first-five.

But a slow start to this year’s Super Rugby Pacific campaign has cost the 23-year-old, who missed out on selection along with Reds stars Tate McDermott and Harry Wilson.

After naming his first Wallabies squad since returning to Australia, Jones explained some of his big selection decisions on his podcast Eddie.

“We’ve tried to look at the squad and what we want to build for the World Cup, we needed to pick players who could win for Australia,” Jones said.

“That means that they’re rolling their sleeves up and digging in for their clubs in Super Rugby level. It’s a mixture of players who have got great experience and some players who have never played Test rugby.

“The interesting thing will be how they come in… particularly for the young guys, whether they can adjust to the quicker changes in the turnover, adapting to the quicker style of learning.”

Jones included six uncapped players in his squad for the training camp, including in-form Rebels playmaker Carter Gordon.

Gordon has been a revelation for both the Rebels and Australian Rugby this season, and certainly appears to have an exciting future with the Wallabies ahead of him.

Teenager Max Jorgensen was also selected, along with Josh Flook, Brad Wilkin and Ryan Lonergan.

Prop Blake Schoupp was a surprise selection in the 33-man squad, but Jones seemed more than happy to have the Brumbies front-rower in his squad – saying Schoupp was “build like a brick s***house.”

While some of these selections may have surprised some rugby fans, Jones added that the Wallabies aren’t looking to pick “the commentators choice” ahead of the World Cup.

“There was a great study done in England about five years ago when I was over there about all their most successful British athletes,” he added on Eddie.

“If you look at the way Great Britain have done at the Olympics, in the last eight to 12 years, their success rate has been extraordinarily good.

“Most of the successful Olympic athletes had some sort of trauma or struggle in tehri life, whether it be a family situation, an injury, an illness, non-selection, that then made them a little bit more focused.

“Therefore they became successful, and I don’t think it’s any different in rugby.

“I’ll look at a player trying to find out about their background and if there’s enough good things that indicates that they’ve got growth in them.

“We’re looking for players who can grow mate, not looking for players who are the finished product.

“We’re not looking for the commentators choice, the player that makes the big run and has a rest, but does that really well and captures the attention of the commentators.”

Noah Lolesio, Tate McDermott and Harry Wilson all impressed during the Reds’ crunch clash with the Brumbies on Friday night.

After missing out on the Wallabies, these three players all sent a message to selectors.

“These guys get the opportunity, they get to put their engines in front of the engineers at the first camp.

“The guys have got 10 rounds but they’ve got to do something different, they can’t keep doing the same thing.

“They haven’t been picked because they haven’t rolled their sleeves up enough, haven’t played with enough toughness and fight and worked hard enough off the ball.

“We don’t coach skill at international level, we try to pick skilful players with toughness, and they’re the best players. But if you’ve only got one of them, you’ve only got the big play, then you’re not going to be successful at Test rugby.”