{"id":10982,"date":"2012-06-01T10:30:47","date_gmt":"2012-06-01T08:30:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/rugby-wallabies-ponder-flyhalf-options-before-crowded-test-window\/"},"modified":"2012-06-01T10:30:47","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T08:30:47","slug":"rugby-wallabies-ponder-flyhalf-options-before-crowded-test-window","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/rugby-wallabies-ponder-flyhalf-options-before-crowded-test-window\/","title":{"rendered":"Rugby-Wallabies ponder flyhalf options before crowded test window"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>By Nick Mulvenney<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"articleLocation\">SYDNEY, June 1<\/span> (Reuters) &#8211; Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is<br \/>\nfaced with a flyhalf dilemma ahead of a crowded international<br \/>\nwindow for the Tri-Nations champions after injury ravaged his<br \/>\nstock of options in the playmaker role.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Australia meet Scotland next Tuesday in Newcastle to open<br \/>\ntheir season before taking on Six Nations champions Wales in a<br \/>\nthree-match series &#8211; a total of four tests in just three weeks.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Deans looks likely to choose between gambling on Quade<br \/>\nCooper, the incumbent in the role who is returning from serious<br \/>\ninjury, or handing a test debut to another New Zealand-born<br \/>\nnumber 10 in Mike Harris, a solid if uninspired playmaker.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Berrick Barnes is a more experienced option but he has had<br \/>\nan average season with the ailing New South Wales Waratahs and<br \/>\nstill has to negotiate another Super Rugby match on Saturday<br \/>\nbefore rejoining the squad.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Australia&#8217;s stock of flyhalves looked reasonably healthy at<br \/>\nthe start of the season despite the knee injury that Cooper<br \/>\nsustained at the World Cup, which kept him out of action until<br \/>\nlast month.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>James O&#8217;Connor, one of Australia&#8217;s brightest rugby talents,<br \/>\nhad taken up the role at the Melbourne Rebels, while Christian<br \/>\nLealiifano was making a strong claim for an international<br \/>\ncall-up with some fine displays for the resurgent ACT Brumbies.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>But then O&#8217;Connor, who many believe is being groomed for the<br \/>\nrole by Deans, damaged his liver in late April before Lealiifano<br \/>\nwas ruled out for the season when he broke his ankle in early<br \/>\nMay.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The loss of O&#8217;Connor looked like it was only going to be a<br \/>\ntemporary setback as Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale moved into<br \/>\nthe role with the Rebels and produced a series of outstanding<br \/>\ndisplays.<br \/>\n\u00a0 <span class=\"label\"><strong>Continued&#8230;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, June 1 (Reuters) &#8211; Wallabies coach Robbie Deans is faced with a flyhalf dilemma ahead of a crowded international window for the Tri-Nations champions after injury ravaged his stock of options in the playmaker role. Australia meet Scotland next Tuesday in Newcastle to open their season before taking on Six Nations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-10982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}