logo
Wallabies veteran Nic White backtracks on retirement to face Springboks

Wallabies veteran Nic White backtracks on retirement to face Springboks

Wallabies scrum-half Nic White has been included in the Wallabies' initial Rugby Championship squad, less than a week after playing what appeared to be his farewell Test.
White announced his international retirement prior to the Wallabies' 22-12 victory over the British and Irish Lions in Sydney last Saturday night.
But a hamstring injury to Jake Gordon has seen White reverse his retirement plans for the time being.
He was included as one of three scrum-halves in the Wallabies' 35-player squad to face the Springboks in back-to-back Tests in South Africa.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has opted to promote the uncapped Ryan Lonergan, who joins Tate McDermott and White in the wider squad for the opening two Rugby Championship rounds.
Lonergan is one of three uncapped players selected, alongside winger Corey Toole and ex-All Blacks prop Aidan Ross.
Playmakers Tane Edmed and James O'Connor have also been included.
Edmed has been called up to replace first-choice fly-half Tom Lynagh, who was ruled out with concussion after falling victim to an illegal clean-out in the third and final Lions Test.
Western Force hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa has been officially added to the group, having answered a late call ahead of the final Lions Test after injuries to David Porecki and Matt Faessler last Thursday.
Porecki subsequently announced his retirement this week.
Queensland trio Josh Flook, Josh Nasser and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto are the other three new faces in the squad.
The Wallabies face the Springboks in Johannesburg on August 17 AEST, before travelling to Cape Town for a return bout with the world champions the following week.
"It's pleasing to be able to keep the core of the group together, while also leaning on some depth and fresh bodies," Schmidt said.
"We're very conscious of how difficult it is going to be, playing South Africa on their home turf over two consecutive weekends.
"The group has made some positive steps throughout the start of the Test season but we all know there is a lot of hard work ahead of us."
Forwards — Angus Bell, Nick Champion De Crespigny, Nick Frost, Langi Gleeson, Tom Hooper, Fraser McReight, Josh Nasser, Zane Nonggorr, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Billy Pollard, Tom Robertson, Aidan Ross, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Will Skelton, James Slipper, Carlo Tizzano, Taniela Tupou, Rob Valetini, Jeremy Williams, Harry Wilson
Backs — Ben Donaldson, Tane Edmed, Josh Flook, Len Ikitau, Max Jorgensen, Andrew Kellaway, Ryan Lonergan, Tate McDermott, James O'Connor, Hunter Paisami, Dylan Pietsch, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Corey Toole, Nic White, Tom Wright
AAP/ABC
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Melbourne fans express disappointment after Western United A-League licence withdrawal
Melbourne fans express disappointment after Western United A-League licence withdrawal

ABC News

time18 minutes ago

  • ABC News

Melbourne fans express disappointment after Western United A-League licence withdrawal

Western United fans have expressed their disappointment after the team was stripped of its A-League licence late last week, but hold hope that an appeal would be successful. Football Australia announced the "regrettable" decision on Friday, saying the club did not meet the criteria required to be granted a licence for Australia's professional soccer league. The beleaguered Victorian club has faced financial issues since claiming the 2021/2022 A-League Men's title, having been served breach notices earlier this year over unpaid wages and superannuation. The club says it plans to appeal Football Australia's decision, but if the cancellation goes ahead, Western United's men's and women's teams will be booted from the A-League. Based in Tarneit in Melbourne's west, Western United Football Club prides itself on representing soccer fans from the west of Victoria, including 13-year-old Lucas Playford. He plays for Tarneit United Soccer Club, one of the many grassroots clubs in the western suburbs that has a partnership with Western United. "I hope they can get their licence back so they can start up again and hopefully I can play for them," he said. Mohammad Aamiruddin plays for Tarneit United's under-16s, and said he felt disappointed by the news. He said playing for Western United would be "a dream come true". "It gives the people in the western suburbs a chance to make it to high levels," he said. Michael Jenko has been a member of Western United for three years, and his son plays for Tarneit United. While he said he was sad and shocked, he was optimistic the club's appeal would succeed. "It's the only professional football club to play games in the western suburbs," he said. "It'd be a missed opportunity for all the families here to be a part of something special. "I think the A-League should do everything they can [to save it]." Nyx Ahmed has also been supporting the club for a few years, and said her son currently plays with the Western United Academy — an elite pathway for talented young players. "They mean so much to us, especially that they're our local club," she said. "It's going to be a big loss for us." Daniel Hoogstra is the chair of the Western United fan group, and said a lot of fans were "heartbroken". He said if the club's licence was cancelled, it would likely fold, which would limit professional opportunities for young local footballers. "I think for the broader western Melbourne community, this is really going to affect their pathways, potentially playing professional football for their local club and going on and becoming Socceroos and Matildas." "Save the west, save Western United … this is an investment into the future of Australian football." The licence cancellation has put plans in doubt for a 15,000-seat soccer stadium in Melbourne's west — one of Australia's fastest growing areas. The Wyndham Stadium Precinct is a joint proposal between the Wyndham City Council, Western Melbourne Group — which owns Western United — and a group of investors. The project plans to transform a 63-hectare site along Sayers Rd in Tarneit into a sports, entertainment, business and residential precinct. The centrepiece of the plan is a 15,000 capacity soccer stadium, which will become the home ground for Western United. The club's home is currently on this parcel of land, in a recently completed development called Ironbark Fields, which includes three pitches and a pavilion that seats 5,000 spectators. Wyndham City Council corporate services director Mark Rossiter said while the licence cancellation was "disappointing", the council remained committed to the larger plan. "We understand the club still has some appeal options and Wyndham will use that time to consider what this means for our partnership with Western Melbourne Group," he said. "We continue to believe this is a unique initiative that has the potential to unlock an extraordinary level of public value, and we remain committed to realising this vision." Mr Rossiter said council and ratepayers were "completely protected" by the "robust commercial and financial contracts" that were in place between them and Western Melbourne Group. "Land earmarked for the Wyndham Stadium Precinct — including Ironbark Fields — is owned entirely by Wyndham City Council," he said. "No land has been gifted or sold to Western Melbourne Group as part of this partnership." Mr Hoogstra said if Western United won its appeal and kept its A-League licence, it needed to build the 15,000-seat stadium to survive. "Building the stadium unlocks the land all around for development and sale, and that's really important for the club to be financially sustainable going forward," he said. Mr Hoogstra also said the club needed to finalise its ownership agreement. In May, Western United struck an agreement with KAM Melbourne — a subsidiary of American group KAM Sports — which would see the company get a controlling stake in the club. However, the agreement is yet to be finalised. The club has until the end of the week to appeal Football Australia's decision.

Legends left divided over Dylan Shiel's questionable push in the back
Legends left divided over Dylan Shiel's questionable push in the back

News.com.au

timean hour ago

  • News.com.au

Legends left divided over Dylan Shiel's questionable push in the back

AFL greats Matthew Lloyd and Nathan Brown have been left divided over Dylan Shiel's questionable act on Friday night. Shiel was referred directly to the tribunal for a 'dangerous' pushing act that led to a scary collision with teammate Luamon Lual. FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports, is the only place to watch every match of every round in the 2025 Toyota AFL Premiership Season LIVE in 4K, with no ad-breaks during play. New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. Shiel, during a contest on the wing in the second term, shoved Mark O'Connor into the pathway of Lual running back with the flight as the young Bomber was tunnelled and flipped backwards as he crashed to the turf on his head. Lual was eventually able to get to his feet and left the ground with a trainer. The 20-year old returned to the game after halftime and was subbed out for tactical purposes. The incident became a hot topic of conversation on Sunday morning as the two former greats went toe-to-toe over the moment. 'It's an action that happens in football quite often and I think he's trying to make space for himself,' Brown said on Channel 9's Sunday Footy Show. 'I don't think he understands that there's another player coming in. I think you can fight that. So you look at that. He doesn't know that the Essendon player is going to jump in from the side. 'So what he's doing, he's trying to push his player underneath to get the ball over the back. And he doesn't expect the Essendon player to jump up and that's awful.' Football reporter Damien Barrett jumped in: 'So you're defensive of Shiel?' Brown responded: 'I'm quite defensive.' It was then that Lloyd joined in the conversation and said the act has been taken out of the game. 'I'm not. That's out of the game now. You can't do that,' Lloyd said. Brown shot back: 'A big forward will do that every night.' Lloyd: 'But not anymore,' Brown: 'A forward inside forward 50 would be able to hold them out and then push them late like that and try and take the mark time and time again.' Lloyd simply shook his head as he disagreed with Brown's stance on the incident. The Essendon champion wasn't the only one to condemn Shiel with former Melbourne captain Garry Lyon calling him out. 'That's dangerous by Dylan Shiel. Fine, suspended, whatever you want there. I think that's a suspension,' Lyon said on the Fox Footy broadcast. 'This is what we talk about with tunnelling and pushing players into contests, this is why we get up in arms about it.' Lyon post-match doubled down on the 'ugly incident' he 'didn't like one bit,' calling for new AFL footy boss Greg Swann to 'stamp it out'. 'Greg Swann is sitting at home, enough of that, stamp it out. Give him one or two weeks,' Lyon said. 'You can't go pushing blokes like that. The danger of that is extraordinary. Make a stand now.' Shiel's act went ungraded as a rough conduct charge, with the match review findings stating the AFL recommended a one-match ban, citing O'Connor as the 'victim player'. 'The AFL's view is that a suspension of one match is the appropriate penalty having regard to both the impact to O'Connor and the significant potential that Shiel's teammate, Luamon Lual, could have suffered a serious head or neck injury arising from Shiel's unreasonable conduct, which caused Lual's head and neck to make contact with the ground with force,' the statement read. 'In this respect, the Laws of Australian football state that a player owes a duty of care to all other players, not just their opponents.'

‘Going to hate me': Pavlich on moving kids out of Perth
‘Going to hate me': Pavlich on moving kids out of Perth

Perth Now

timean hour ago

  • Perth Now

‘Going to hate me': Pavlich on moving kids out of Perth

Fremantle legend Matthew Pavlich has revealed how his family feel about the move to Sydney while pledging allegiance to his old club as he steps into one of the biggest jobs in football. The 353-gamer was announced on Wednesday as the new chief executive for the Sydney Swans in a shock move that will see the greatest Docker of all time trade in purple for red. Despite building an established reputation in the media after retirement, Pavlich said he belonged back in the league. 'I've said it on the record a couple of times, while I've loved the last 10 years or thereabouts in media and in business, the pullback to a football club or the pullback to AFL was really, really strong,' he said on Nova. 'I have had some opportunities that I've pursued or at least explored, or been approached about over that period, but not one of them was the right timing, or none of them were an opportunity of this magnitude.' Matthew Pavlich (left) and Sydney Swans Chairman, Andrew Pridham. Credit: BIANCA DE MARCHI / AAPIMAGE It wasn't until the prospect of Sydney's top job coming up for the sixth time All-Australian that he seriously considered a move. 'When I got that random text message on a Saturday morning saying 'hey I'm in town... can we have a chat', I said to Lauren (Pavlich), 'we might want to think about this one a bit more seriously',' Pavlich said. 'It moved really quickly over the last three or four weeks to a point where it's an emotional time for us because it's exciting, it's an adventure.' Although a monumental move for the six time Doig Medallist, his children aren't convinced on the cross-country move, with Pavlich saying his kids haven't been thrilled at the idea. '(The news went) down like a lead balloon... they love their lifestyle here, they love their connection with their friends,' he said. 'Maybe Harper is going to hate me, but it's exciting.' Now Pavlich will take over the position from outgoing CEO Tom Harley, who at the end of this season will join the AFL executive as the new league chief operating officer. The 43-year-old said that his allegiance still lies with the club that he played for his entire AFL career. 'I'll always be a Fremantle person,' he said. 'I certainly still have strong feelings for Fremantle and always will, so that'll never leave me, and I am a Fremantle person forever.' Coming in to the role with little experience in the field, Pavlich has big shoes to fill as he takes charge of one of the most storied clubs in the league. The Hall of Famer plans to use his nine-years of experience as the Freo captain as a guide for the new role. 'The way that I'll lead (is) through strong integrity, strong influence on the people, I'll do what I'll say I want to do,' he said. 'I think my style is to be collaborative, but then really quickly, action oriented and decisive. 'I'll use all the experiences I've had, no only in the football life but more recently in the commercial world, to understand that strong stability and strength off the field often drives really high success on the field, and the club's been great at that.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store