THE AUSTRALIAN RUGBY UNION has suspended six players for consuming ‘inappropriate levels of alcohol during the early hours of Wednesday morning’.
Among the players suspended are Adam Ashley Cooper, Nick Cummins, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Benn Robinson and Liam Gill. Every player, barring Ryan, featured in the 32-15 win over Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday. Cummins scored a first-half try and should have had a second but for a contentious TMO decision.
Australia coach Ewen McKenzie said, “Everyone in our squad is required to comply with and adhere to high standards of ethical conduct both on and off the field.
Those standards were compromised in the lead-up to Saturday’s victory over Ireland with a group of players making the decision to stay out late and consume inappropriate levels of alcohol during the early hours of Wednesday morning.”
Five of the suspended players will miss this weekend’s clash with Scotland while Ryan will sit out the Wales Test the following week. Additional sanctions were handed down to nine other players. Dave Dennis, Kane Douglas, Saia Fainga’a, Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps got written raps while Scott Fardy, Mike Harris, Ben McCalman and Nic White were verbally scolded.
McKensie added, “Let’s be clear – these are internal sanctions and aren’t a result of any complaints or reports of inappropriate or sinister behaviour while our players were out. Instead, we have chosen to address an issue that has come up internally and we are now being up-front about it.
“We’ve done this because we need to continually reinforce the need for our players to make smart decisions to benefit the team. The worst thing you could do for the Wallabies in the long-term is do nothing because that would mean we would be ignoring poor culture and a significant performance issue.”
McKenzie has already cut back James O’Connor loose from the squad while Kurtley Beale remains in the coach’s thoughts if he decides to focus completely on his rugby career. The fullback admitted his troubles with alcoholism earlier this year.
McKenzie declared, “There is no doubt having talented players unavailable will put this team under significant pressure [against Scotland] but we won’t be using this situation as an excuse.
“For us, this is a great opportunity to circle the wagons and re-calibrate our behaviours to get back on track off the field.”
