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Wilson to cling onto hope after being left 'frustrated' in Wallabies wilderness

(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)

Out-of-favour Queensland backrower Harry Wilson will cling onto hope of winning a World Cup recall, despite another frustrating season in the Wallabies wilderness.

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The talented 23-year-old played every Test in Dave Rennie’s first season in charge but has spent the next two on the outer behind Rob Valetini and Pete Samu.

He was left out of last year’s end-of-season tour for strategic reasons, asked to instead build his developing body in an overdue pre-season.

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He did that and then starred for the Reds to collect their player-of-the-year gong.

But he only had two more Test caps to show for it in losing causes against England and New Zealand, the timing of the latter effectively ruling him out of an Australian A tour of Japan.

That was where rookie Langi Gleeson shone, the 21-year-old then ironically beating Wilson to a spot in this year’s touring squad and starting in the final Test against Wales.

Ahead of next year’s World Cup it’s left the No.8 answering the same questions he was 12 months earlier, not that he needs reminding.

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“I’ll leave that between me and Dave,” he said of the feedback he’d received.

“I spoke about that a lot last year and don’t want to talk about it again.

“I feel as if I did (respond last season), so I’m very frustrated.

“The feeling of not being a part of the group hurts and I think I’m good enough to get back in there.

“Rugby’s a funny game so I’m going to have to (believe there’s a way back into the team); if you go in without that mindset it’s not going to go too well.”

He isn’t the only Reds player with a chip on their shoulder, star five-eighth James O’Connor was also dropped after a loss in Argentina.

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Winger Suliasi Vunivalu has also been nudged down the pecking order after a cameo of mere minutes in his sole Test against England.

O’Connor is nearing full fitness after ankle surgery but the Reds won’t have game-shaping prop Taniela Tupou in 2023 after he tore his achilles.

“You can see he’s got a bit of a point to prove … I’ve never seen Rabs this skinny,” Wilson said of O’Connor.

“And a lot of the time it’s said the Reds can’t win without Taniela.

“It’s a chance to prove that wrong and show what kind of team we are when we play for each other.”

The Reds’ 2022 season fell away in a winless back-end against New Zealand sides without the injured O’Connor.

The second iteration of Super Rugby Pacific will see teams from Australia and New Zealand play each other from round one this season though, the Reds to host the Hurricanes in Townsville on February 25.

“A lot of teams are already writing us off thinking we’ve already had our window. That gives us even more motivation to improve,” Wilson said.

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J
JW 45 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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LONG READ 'England's blanket of despair feels overdone - they are not a team in freefall' 'England's blanket of despair feels overdone - they are not a team in freefall'
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