SYDNEY (Reuters) – Wallabies centre Samu Kerevi played his first 23 minutes of competitive rugby in nine months at the weekend in a boost for Australia coach Eddie Jones ahead of the Rugby Championship and World Cup.
The 29-year-old, one of the best midfielders in the world, injured his knee playing Sevens at the Commonwealth Games last August but came on as a second-half replacement for Tokyo Sungoliath in a Japan Rugby League One playoff on Sunday.
Jones, who remains a consultant at Sungoliath, will not have enjoyed the final result of the bruising semi-final encounter at Tokyo’s Prince Chichibu Memorial stadium, with Kerevi’s side going out 24-18 at the hands of Kubota Spears.
Kerevi, however, made his presence felt with a few powerful runs, a couple of offloads and one thumping tackle as 14-man Sungoliath came within a couple of contentious TMO decisions of progressing to the final.
Australia flyhalf Bernard Foley skipped over under the posts for the winning try as Kubota instead went through to play champions Saitama Wild Knights, who progressed on Saturday on the back of a hat-trick from Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete.
The good news in Japan for Australia did not end there with another Wallabies flyhalf, Quade Cooper, playing an hour on Saturday in his second match back from a lengthy spell on the sidelines after rupturing his Achilles.
Cooper scored a try and looked in fine touch as he and his old Wallabies halfback partner Will Genia helped Hanazono cement their place in the top flight with a 56-21 drubbing of Urayasu in the second leg of their relegation playoff in Osaka.
As Rugby Australia rules stand, Jones would only be able to select three overseas-based players in his Wallabies squad but the former England coach has suggested he will be looking to vary that limit this season.
If fit, it looks likely that Kerevi, Korobeite, Foley and Cooper would all be in the frame for inclusion, along with France-based lock Will Skelton.
Australia kick off the truncated Rugby Championship against South Africa in Pretoria on July 8 and face Wales, Fiji, Georgia and Portugal in Pool C at the Sept. 8-Oct. 28 World Cup in France.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
