Bernard Foley to join Dave Rennie Australia camp after Quade Cooper injury

It starts with Pollard getting a late-night message from Wallabies forward coach Dan McKellar.

“It was 12.30pm and I thought he was gonna get me up for still being up, that he’d seen I was active on WhatsApp,” Pollard said. “I didn’t want to reply at first but I said ‘yeah I am up’. He gave me a call and gave me the news.”

Pollard was told he would be flying the next afternoon and went to sleep. However, not willing to risk him arriving five hours before the first Test, the Wallabies found a ‘better’ itinerary. But, now he needed to catch a 6am flight, Pollard couldn’t be roused.

Brumbies teammates living nearby were called until flanker Luke Reimer answered. At 4am, he drove to Pollard’s place and broke through his back door.

“I packed two shirts and two pairs of shorts and that was it. I thought I packed more,” Pollard said.

He missed that flight to Sydney, but the next one to San Francisco was delayed, so the 22,328km journey began. Crammed up the back of the bus, I slogged from Sydney to San Francisco to Houston to Santiago and then into Mendoza.

“I left home at 4am on Thursday morning and got there, in Aussie time, at Friday 11pm,” he said. “I hate plans and I can’t sleep on them, so I was struggling. But it was a good experience.”

A shortage of team kit meant players and staff had to donate bits and pieces to Pollard, who has been carrying around his boots in a cotton sack. But, as per that smile, Pollard couldn’t care less.

“I am very excited. It is still surreal, being around guys like James O’Connor, growing up watching those guys play. I haven’t said much to them,” he said.

Cheika’s challenge

He deserves huge credit for giving it a go but it seems some of the Argentinian players and press are still coming to grips with Michael Cheika’s developing Spanish. The multilingual coach, who speaks Italian, French and Arabic, talks in Spanish to the team and to media in press conferences.

One newspaper article said it was occasionally hard to understand his “strained mix of English, Spanish and Italian” and locals say players rely on assistant coach Felipe Contepomi to do a bit of on-the-fly clarification work.

Road trip of peace canceled

How did the trans-Tasman road trip of peace, between Andy Marinos and his NZR counterpart Mark Robinson go? The one where the two chief executives were due to drive back to London together after the Commonwealth Games sevens in Coventry?

Turns out it didn’t go ahead. Plans changed due to Robinson, who has a few issues on his plate currently, having an early morning meeting in London. I have caught a train instead.

Douglas claims rugby club’s biggest honour.

Giant Manly and NSW forward Max Douglas was a popular winner of the prestigious Ken Catchpole Medal on Wednesday night.

Douglas, who has played nine games for the Waratahs since his debut in 2021, starred for the Marlins with his high defensive work rate and dominant lineout work. He was the first Manly winner of the Ken Catchpole medal since Peter Hewat in 2006.

Scott Coleman (Hunter Wildfires) and Sean Hedger (Sydney Uni) shared the coach of the year award, while Warringah’s Conor Hickey was the rookie of the year.

With the finals starting this week, Douglas will be a leader for Manly when they take on Norths at North Sydney Oval on Saturday.

Elsewhere, the Students will host Randwick, while Eastwood and Easts will do battle at Eric Tweedale Stadium. On Sunday, the Rats host Gordon.

loading

Turf war over Waratahs’ next gen
The unveiling of NSW’s Gen Blue U16 squad ruffled feathers last week when word spread that almost half of the backline players named had contracts with NRL clubs.

Zach Fittler, son of NRL great and Blues coach Brad, was among the names, as was Tom Farr-Jones, nephew of World Cup-winning former Wallabies captain Nick.

Talent-scouting sources told the Cauliflower that while none of the players’ contracts extended beyond the end of high school (as per NRL rules??), it was curious to see NSW Rugby bothering with players many believe will inevitably end up in the 13 -player game.

RA chairman Hamish McLennan put the NRL on notice that rugby would come for league’s top talent with rugby pedigree in the lead-up to the home 2027 World Cup, but the 15-player code has not had much success on that front in recent years. Kalyn Ponga comes to mind, as does Joseph Suaali’i.

Watch every match of The Rugby Championship on the Home of Rugby, Stan Sport. Continue this weekend with South Africa v All Blacks (Sunday 12.30am AEST) and Argentina v Wallabies (Sunday 4.45am AEST). All matches streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport.