RUGBY UNION
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The NSW Waratahs’ historic Super Rugby triumph may have cost Bathurst the chance to see one of the Wallabies’ more experienced players, with hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau set to miss the Bledisloe Cup opener with a knee injury.
Polota-Nau limped off just after half-time in NSW’s tense 33-32 final win over the Crusaders with what Waratahs coach Michael Cheika suspected to be a medial ligament tear.
He had scans yesterday and, although he was putting on a brave front and saying he remains hopeful of being fit for the Rugby Championship, Polota-Nau looks little chance of tackling the All Blacks in Sydney on August 16.
It means he is also unlikely to be amongst those Wallabies who will be in Bathurst this week as part of the Bush2Bledisloe country road tour.
The tour, which started in Dubbo yesterday, will see the Wallabies training at Ashwood Park this Thursday with a number of lucky Bathurst players having the chance to join them in evening sessions.
With Stephen Moore ruled out for the year with a knee injury after being hurt two minutes into his first match as Wallabies captain, Australia will lose a total of 141 Tests of experience if Polota-Nau is also scratched.
Such a scenario would likely thrust two-Test reserve Nathan Charles into the Bledisloe Cup cauldron.
The Western Force number two and Queensland James Hanson are the back-up hookers in coach Ewen McKenzie’s Rugby Championship squad that will be part of the Bush2Bledisloe tour.
While Crusaders captain Kieran Read, the All Blacks’ reigning world player of the year, played down the relevance of NSW’s stirring victory as any type of Bledisloe pointer, Waratahs and Wallabies star Adam Ashley-Cooper said an Australian side winning the Super Rugby title could only help.
Ashley-Cooper noted how the Wallabies won the Tri Nations title for the first time in a decade with success over the All Blacks in the series decider in Brisbane after the Queensland Reds beat the Crusaders in the 2011 Super Rugby final.
“I think [we’ll gain] a lot of confidence,” Ashley-Cooper said.
“We had a pretty successful year with the Wallabies post the Reds championship and I’d like to think we could do something similar with the Wallabies this year off the back of what the Waratahs have achieved this year.
“I think across the board a lot of the Australian teams have done extremely well this year and it’s probably been our best year to date from an Australian rugby perspective, and off the back of that, you look at form and we’re sitting nicely.
“But then to respect the All Blacks, they are the best team in the world and we’ve got a huge challenge ahead of us.”
The All Blacks have held the Bledisloe Cup since 2003, so there is little doubt the Wallabies will be working hard when they take to Ashwood Park.