Gregan to return for England clash after birth of daughter
Gregan headed to Australia after the world champions lost 18-9 to Ireland at Lansdowne Road in Dublin on Saturday, arriving at Sydney Airport on Monday. The scrum-half’s wife, Erica, gave birth to Charlie on Tuesday morning. The couple have a son, Max, who was born last year.
Wallaby coach Eddie Jones, speaking at a news conference in London on Monday, backed Gregan’s decision to fly home.
“It doesn’t happen too many times in your life, and when it happens, we support George to be there,” Jones said.
“He is a world-class half-back and a very good captain, as well as being a total professional,” he said.
Jones fired up the psychological battle before this Saturday’s clash with England when he suggested on Monday that teams were putting next year’s World Cup ahead of the Test matches in Europe this month.
“Everyone is talking about the World Cup, but everyone also wants to win these games,” he said.
“They are important to play well in, but all said and done, everyone is moving towards the World Cup.”
With only a year to go until rugby union’s showpiece tournament in Australia, international coaches and captains have declined to speculate on the consequences of this month’s round of matches in Europe, adopting the “one game at a time” mantra.
However Jones, if somewhat unwittingly, exposed what all must be thinking as Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa prepare for matches against England, France and Scotland respectively this weekend.
“The World Cup is a tournament in itself, but what everyone is trying to do right now is build a base of selection and strategy to get yourself right for the World Cup,” he said.
None more so than New Zealand coach John Mitchell, who selected 12 uncapped players for their test matches against England, France and Wales, and almost beat a full-strength England side at Twickenham on Saturday.
Jones himself was hoping to use the Wallabies’ tour to test new combinations in order to successfully defend the title they so convincingly won in 1999, but his plans have been hampered by injuries to several players.
“It has been one of the disappointing aspects of the tour in that we haven’t been able to look at certain options (because of injuries).
“But what it means is that there is the Super 12 next year, then we have seven tests after that.
“So what we have to do is see how guys go in Super 12, then look at the possible combinations during those seven tests.”
Jones, in answering a question on why his side had found it hard to defeat Ireland at Lansdowne Road last Saturday, also sent out a warning to teams thinking that winning the trophy on Australian soil would be easy.
“It (the defeat) shows how important home advantage is to international rugby.
“Teams ranked in the top ten are winning 77% of their home games.
“There is also a 15% differential in penalties for home teams, so bearing all of that in mind, it shows how difficult it is to win away from home.”
Jones also said that next year in Australia, his side would not have to deal with the torrential rain and horrendous weather conditions they faced against Ireland last weekend.
“It was 41 degrees in Sydney on Saturday, and there’s bushfires everywhere,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“We are also used to playing on pretty dry, flat tracks.”
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