Sydney: Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said on Sunday that overseas-based players will not be part of his training squad to be announced this week for the Rugby Championship.
Cheika will name a group of players not involved in next week’s Super Rugby finals, but will give foreign-based hopefuls some extra time off.
The Wallabies coach said he spoke to Europe-based stars Matt Giteau, George Smith and Drew Mitchell and they all indicated they were available for the Rugby Championship, starting on July 18 against South Africa in Brisbane.
“They’ll be considered for selection for the first game,” Cheika told reporters. “They’ve just finished seasons over there — they don’t need to come back now.
“If they were to come back... if they were selected, they’d be coming back after the Super Rugby final when the full team comes together.
“We’re just going to name the guys who are in the training for the teams that are out of Super Rugby.”
Several expected members of the initial training squad are injured, with Queensland’s Will Genia (shoulder), James O’Connor (groin) and James Slipper (shoulder) all unable to finish the Reds’ 31-5 loss to the New South Wales Waratahs on Saturday.
Reds coach Richard Graham said he expected Genia and Slipper to be fine but was uncertain about the extent of O’Connor’s injury.
