Australia ban 6 players

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24983640

Australia ban six players for drinking before Ireland game
Australia have suspended six players for one match for drinking in midweek before Saturday's win over Ireland.

Wallabies coach Ewan McKenzie, who also warned nine more, said standards of "ethical conduct" had been compromised.

He said the Wallabies had acted after "a group of players made the decision to stay out late and consume inappropriate levels of alcohol".

The six banned are Adam Ashley Cooper, Nick Cummins, Liam Gill, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson and Paddy Ryan





AAC & NC will be missed, the others not so much.

Mmm....not sure its about ethics, but a more disciplined culture amongst Aussie players seems slow in coming. Must be a bit of a worry for the management if they can't get the message across.

So they are banning them against Scotland even though the event happened BEFORE the Ireland match ?

No offence to Scotland but they are blatantly just resting them for Wales, no ?

What is it with the Aussies, sounds like the nonsense with the cricketing teams..

Aus are starting to come across like the England teams of old

Bit of a drinking culture it seems, 15 out drinking mid week before game against ireland. Wasn't JOC kicked out of the squad for durnken behaviour too?

Wow, Ireland really were awful then if Aus were hungover

Ah what harm does a few beers with your team mates do..pah.

Id like to know what the "inappropriate levels" of alcohol were..

I think it was more about the lads that got in to fights and probably got absolutely hammered only GF

Bloody hell we cant even beat a bunch of drunks  

gcBlues wrote:Bit of a drinking culture it seems, 15 out drinking mid week before game against ireland. Wasn't JOC kicked out of the squad for durnken behaviour too?

my next door neighbour is a former aus rugby league player (he's 65 so was a while ago), and he puts it entirely down to the "star" mentality which is promoted and reinforced by the central contracting arrangements they have, and also by the fact that apparently incidents involving Aussie national team players and federal police have historically been brushed under the carpet.

so, the stars get AUS$10,000 per match, win or lose, and history tells them they dont get punished for messing about (unless its airport police that you trouble).

guess Aus rugby coach, like their cricket coach (didnt end well for him i seem to remember he got replaced weeks before the ashes started for having upset the players) wants to make it public and stamp it out.

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ah what harm does a few beers with your team mates do..pah.

Id like to know what the "inappropriate levels" of alcohol were..

very little harm, unless they were explicitly told not to. then its a discipline issue, which the players obviously think mgmt wouldn't have called them on.

I see some Australian fans are contrasting this approach with the leniency shown to Billy Slater after he went out late (although he wasn't breaking any team protocols)

I'd actually compare it the the English league team where the coach dropped players who broke a curfew as soon as he learned of it. They missed the World Cup opener against the Kangaroos.

Fair enough for McKenzie to crack the whip, but he would have looked even stronger if he'd decided these guys didn't deserve to play against Ireland.

Just a little point to make. Fair play to Quade for not getting involved in this one. He seems to be a very notable absentee from the naughty list. Hoping he's turned a corner.

Given that the Aussies seemed to play much better against Ireland than against England (I didn't see the game, but one friend said they looked like a different team), perhaps they should, erm, encourage a bit of pre-game drinking and see if that makes the difference? [ducks for cover]

quinsforever wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:Ah what harm does a few beers with your team mates do..pah.

Id like to know what the "inappropriate levels" of alcohol were..

very little harm, unless they were explicitly told not to. then its a discipline issue, which the players obviously think mgmt wouldn't have called them on.

ask mike Philips

apparently one prop will be banned for te Wales game

They should drop the fat one.  

munkian wrote:So they are banning them against Scotland even though the event happened BEFORE the Ireland match ?

No offence to Scotland but they are blatantly just resting them for Wales, no ?

Aye, it seems like that. They could have taken this action before the Ireland match, but have chosen to delay it to a match were they were probably going to rotate players anyway.

I'm surprised it didn't leak out before the Ireland match.
Ewen must have confiscated their phones and gadgets... tweeting was not allowed.

Shifty bloody convicts.  

Now people are saying they will miss the Wales match too ?

Poorfour wrote:Given that the Aussies seemed to play much better against Ireland than against England (I didn't see the game, but one friend said they looked like a different team), perhaps they should, erm, encourage a bit of pre-game drinking and see if that makes the difference? [ducks for cover]

They didn't play better - the quality of the opposition was markedly inferior

Terrible news. Just before the Scotland match too
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

come on Scotland

Damned Wallabies refuse to learn  I Applaud Mckenzie for his heavy handed response. Its the only way to stamp it out before it becomes a major problem for other players like it did for JOC , Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper.

On a side note i'm glad QC wasn't involved . He's finally learning from his mistakes and his rugby is getting back to his awesome best .

Notch wrote:

munkian wrote:So they are banning them against Scotland even though the event happened BEFORE the Ireland match ?

No offence to Scotland but they are blatantly just resting them for Wales, no ?

Aye, it seems like that. They could have taken this action before the Ireland match, but have chosen to delay it to a match were they were probably going to rotate players anyway.

Maybe, but it's not good to only have 4 fit props left. And if Kuridrani gets suspended for his tip tackle on Tuesday then the centre pairing is going to be Toomua with either Joe Tomane (who cannot be match fit) or Chris Feauai-Sautia (who has precisely 1 cap). What the back options on the bench are going to be is a mystery. If McKenzie really is "blatantly resting" players, then he's resting the wrong ones.

The Ozzies might as well bring the Melbourne 5th XV zimmer frame rugby team and they would still comfortably beat the dross Scotland sent out yesterday.

Which Wallabies step in for the Scotland game?

I am interested in who didn't get banned ? Did they go home ?

And some are dropped for a match - whilst others get a verbal / written warning ? sounds like some were naughtier than others ?

Well paid professionals need to stick to their employer's expectations I guess ?

Good call from EM. These guys are employed by the ARU and have rules and guidelines to follow, just like in any other job. They are all on well-paid contracts and did not keep their part of there part of the bargain so they must be punished. It's pretty simple. Hopefully this will finish off the attitude of entitlement that has crept into the Wallaby playing group. It is incidents like this that Deans let slide which lead to disharmony within the previous set-up. Was mightily pleased NOT to see Quade's name among this lot.

With the Kuridrani suspension and AAC and Cummins now out I would expect CFS to replace Tevita, Tomane to come in for Cummins and Betham for AAC or, Foley to replace Folau at FB and Izzy to take the wing spot.

Brave call and i am really pleased QC wasn't involved as his return has been awesome to see

I hope all the first choice side are back for the Wales game, web ave to test ourselves and win, it will be the biggest game o f the autumn

Want to take bets if Scotland continue their good record agaisnt aus it will be "only because they are weakened"

Linebreaker wrote:They should drop the fat one.  

Matt the drop goal specialist's out of the squad now mate.....