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Wallabies go 'walkabout'
21/11/2006 12:30 - (SA)
Greg Growden
Rome - The Wallabies have been warned to be on their best behaviour in the final week of the European tour after three players were disciplined for staying out too late following the Test against Italy.
The players, whom the Australia Rugby Union (ARU) refused to name, returned to the team hotel between 03.30 and 05:00, shortly before the side left for Dublin last Sunday morning.
Around the same time, one senior player was involved in a disagreement with a member of the coaching staff. The incident prompted discussion within the Australian team management over whether the offending players should be dropped, but this was regarded as an unnecessary reaction.
While coach John Connolly admitted that the three players had been spoken with about their late return, he said it was not a serious issue.
"Nothing untoward happened in Italy," Connolly said. "We told the team to go out after the Test match and have a good time in Rome, because it was one of the very few nights on the tour where they have been allowed to. A couple of them arrived back later than they should have. It is not a major issue. But we had a talk to them and told them not to do it again."
The management is also mindful that the Wallabies return to Edinburgh this week, the city in which two years ago Mat Rogers was involved in an incident after which an Australian fan informed police he had been assaulted and abused by the player at a nightclub.
Rogers fronted the ARU's disciplinary committee, which dismissed a charge of bringing the game into disrepute.
Connolly said that he would again remind the players this week about the importance of "staying away from trouble". "We've been talking to them all the way through the tour," Connolly said. "Overall over the last five months, we have been pretty happy with their behaviour. Next year, we will review it again and tighten up some aspects, such as the possibility of curfews.
"We kept telling them that modern rugby is not the game it was five years ago. Certain behaviour which may have been acceptable then is not now. Nonetheless, I do not believe there is a disciplinary issue with this team."
- Rugby Heaven
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