Australia recall striking stars
Wednesday January 24 2007
Old hands return for Wellington and San DiegoFive of the 12 players who went on strike for a better pay package before the opening rounds of the International Rugby Board (IRB) Sevens series late last year, have been recalled to the Australian team to play in Rounds Three and Four of the IRB Sevens in Wellington (New Zealand) and San Diego (USA) next month.
Tim Atkinson, Nick Cummins, Tim Cornforth, Corey Niwa and Andy Rasmus - of the original squad selected for the Dubai and George tournaments in December - have been recalled to wear the gold jersey in Wellington.
Australian coach Glen Ella has made a number of changes to the squad that competed in the first two rounds in Dubai and South Africa, including the selection of experienced duo Josh Gamgee and Luke Milton.
Gamgee, a member of the star-studded Australian 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games team will be making his sixteenth appearance in international Sevens rugby in Wellington, while Milton played in all eight IRB Sevens tournaments last year.
Among the new faces are Elia Tuqiri, cousin of Wallabies winger Lote Tuqiri, and former Australian Schoolboy Luke Johnson.
Thomas Couper is also in the squad for the first time and will be keen to emulate his brother, James, who captained Australia in Sevens in 2002 while another interesting character is David Harvey, who is the grandson of cricket legend Neil Harvey and cousin of St Kilda AFL player Robert Harvey.
Another debutant Blair Connor will also be keen to perform well and enhance his chances of being selected in the Ford Australian Under-19 squad for the World Championships in Belfast in April.
Ella said that the inclusion of Gamgee and Milton will give a young squad some much needed experience in international Sevens rugby.
"Josh Gamgee is in his third year of Sevens and he will give us some stability up front, while Luke Milton was a very solid performer in all the tournaments last season," he said.
"We're in a better position now than at the start of the series as the majority of the squad have now experienced the speed and skill level of this version of the game and are better for it."
"We made the quarter-finals at both tournaments last year and we'll be looking to go at least one better this time around."
The team assembles in Sydney on Saturday and will fly out for Wellington on Monday.
Australia: Tim Atkinson, Blair Connor, Thomas Couper, Tim Cornforth, Nick Cummins, Josh Gamgee, David Harvey, Luke Johnson, Luke Milton, Corey Niwa, Andrew Rasmus, Elia Tuqiri.