Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie says the door remains very much open for veteran prop Benn Robinson to continue his international career despite being left out of a 30-man squad for the opening Bledisloe Cup clash with New Zealand next Saturday.
Waratahs front-rower Robinson was the most surprising omission announced by McKenzie on Friday when he cut eight players from the extended squad named last month.
Loose-head prop Robinson started all three Tests against the British and Irish Lions in Australia’s recent 2-1 series loss but was overlooked as McKenzie preferred dynamic Brumbies youngster Scott Sio and Queensland’s James Slipper.
Waratahs back-rower Dave Dennis and back-up halfback Nick Phipps, both in Robbie Deans’ squad for the Lions series, were also chopped for the ANZ Stadium clash with the All Blacks.
“Obviously for a player of his experience, it’s a bit of a blow,” McKenzie said of 29-year-old Robinson, who has made 56 Wallabies appearances to be one of Australia’s most-capped front-rowers.
“But everyone needs to understand you’ve got to be delivering. He knows what he needs to do.”
Robinson was also dropped by NSW coach Michael Cheika at the start of the Super Rugby season.
The man who replaced Deans as Wallabies coach a month ago said he would select players on form and that Robinson was every chance of quickly returning to the national side.
“He’s certainly not out of the thinking at all, there’s a bunch of guys around the fringes who we value,” McKenzie said.
“It’s a selection at a point of time … and until the end of next week. Then we play and see what happens, they (players in the squad) have got to perform.
“If they perform, brilliant. If they don’t, we can always go back to what we know.”
Untried 21-year-old Sio is among eight potential Test debutants in the Wallabies squad, and McKenzie will have no qualms trying some of them out against the All Blacks.
“Sometimes you’ve got to be proactive and get on with it if you think you’ve got a guy that’s got some real ability,” McKenzie said.
The average age of the squad is just under 25, with 30-year-old Stephen Moore being the only member over the age of 29.
McKenzie noted this wasn’t by design.
“Age was never a consideration, it’s more about who’s been doing good things (in Super Rugby). And that’s been reinforced by the (training) camp (in Sydney),” he said.
Moore’s Brumbies have the most representatives in the squad with 11, a reward for reaching the Super Rugby final.
McKenzie suggested the new scrum laws played a part in shaping the squad, but hoped they wouldn’t be a major factor in the opening Test of the rugby championship.
“I just hope we get to play some rugby. I don’t want the game to be about two teams trying to learn new laws, that would be disappointing on the big stage,” he said.