We need to make sure our detail is on point and that we’re training the best we can.”Īfter playing 18 times for the Wallabies between 20, Skelton didn’t see any Test match footy for five years before being recalled by Dave Rennie in 2021. “Here it’s short and sharp, get in and get out.
At club level you can ease your way into training, and you’ve got 20-odd games. “The first sessions yesterday, you’ve gotta go live. “Being in this (Wallabies) environment, you’ve gotta be ready from the start,” he said. He returns to the Wallabies ahead of the Rugby Championship and World Cup as something of a grizzled veteran, even if most of his best work has been done out of the eye of the Australian sporting public. He could hardly have had a better place to learn than the sodden fields and grinding rugby played in Europe. Big things were expected of him, but it took the Hills Sports High School student a few years to learn how to best use his size.
He was just a couple of games into his senior career then and didn’t look out of place.
Skelton was one of the best on the field as La Rochelle mounted a comeback to beat Leinster in this year’s Champions Cup Final.
