Hunter Wildfires director of rugby Darren Coleman was surprised that TJ Talaileva missed selection in the Australian under-20s when it was first announced. In hindsight, Coleman believes the power-packed breakaway is now better equipped to make an impact.
Talaileva has been called into the squad for a camp in Sydney starting Sunday, from which a final cut will be made for the World Cup, which starts on June 27 in Georgia. He joins fellow Novocastrian and Wanderers junior, prop Hunter Strachan in the squad.
Strachan was part of the squad which played in the under-20 rugby championships in South Africa against the hosts, New Zealand and Argentina in April. They went down to New Zealand (35-31) and South Africa (56-17) and beat Argentina (32-30).
"TJ was in a wider training squad but missed out on the 26 which played the Rugby Championships," Coleman said. "A lot of those boys have come back and been playing colts. TJ has been carving it up in first grade. He has probably been our best player and has been in the top five most weeks."
Coleman said Talaileva, who was playing school football for Barker College in Sydney last year, had progressed quicker than expected. "He has surprised me a little bit. We knew he was good. You never know how quickly they will handle it."
The tournament will be the first international competition to feature a trial of lowering the tackle height, which makes Talaileva hard to stop. Australia, coached by former Wallabies halfback Chris Whittaker, will meet Spain (June 27), Fiji (July 2) and France (July 7) in the pool stage.
