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O’Young joins the queue
DAVE HUGHES
1 May 2008
The West Australian
No position in Robbie Deans’ new Wallabies team is more open to competition than scrum-half.
Every starter in Super 14 considers himself a potential successor to George Gregan, who wore the No. 9 jersey for a decade until the Wallabies were eliminated in last year’s World Cup quarterfinals.
Queensland’s Sam Cordingley was Gregan’s understudy in France but effectively terminated his Test career yesterday by accepting an offer to play for Grenoble for 2 ½ years. Cordingley played 14 Tests, mostly off the bench.
Not that he was guaranteed the Wallabies job under the new Deans regime. Injuries have plagued him over the past few years and he will be a spectator again when the Reds play the Blues at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow because of a persistent calf problem.
Brumbies pair Patrick Phibbs and Josh Holmes both earned high praise with eye-catching efforts early before the Waratahs’ Luke Burgess became flavour of the month for April.
At least, for most of it. When the Waratahs beat the Force at Subiaco Oval on April 12, the best scrum-half on the field didn’t have a red flower embroidered on his jersey.
Even the Sydney Morning Herald acknowledged that the most efficient Australian at the base of the scrum in round nine was the Force’s Chris O’Young.
Hastily acquired in February as a result of Matt Henjak’s sacking, O’Young is finally getting the on-field minutes he sought when he first came to Perth in 2006.
He spent two seasons on the bench as Henjak’s back-up before asking for an early release from his contract to accept a deal with Scottish club Glasgow Warriors.
When the Force called in the first week of the competition, O’Young was happy to rush to South Africa, not least because returning to Super 14 rekindled his goal of representing Australia.
Australian players based overseas are not eligible for national selection and O’Young, 27, knew a starting role with the Force would require national selectors to keep a watching brief, at the very least.
“I think the thing they’re looking for is consistency,” he said yesterday.
“A different name is being bandied every week and all I can do is play as well as I can for the Force and leave anything further to take care of itself.
“There hasn’t been anyone definite to replace Gregan and, yeah, it’s always been my goal to make the Wallabies.”
O’Young is enjoying the up-tempo style of Super 14 compared with the forward-oriented grind in Europe.
The weather is better, too, with O’Young recalling once having to play on a frozen pitch with the thermometer reading minus 5C.
“Mostly, the pitches were heavier and the forwards bigger, with more emphasis on scrums, line-outs and driving mauls,” he said, pointing out that kickers were at a premium, with Western Force reject Brock James thriving at Clermont Auvergne in France.
James’ accuracy has made him one of the leading point-scorers because he can cash in on the frequent penalty shots awarded in the northern hemisphere, rather than the free kicks which prevail in Super 14.