OWN CORRESPONDENT, Sydney | Thursday 2.30pm.
FORMER Springbok skipper Tiaan Strauss should be considered among the candidates to lead the Wallabies, says ex-Australian captain Nick Farr-Jones.
Coach Rod Macqueen must find another leader for Australia’s domestic international program with regular captain John Eales injured for most of the season.
Farr-Jones suggested to Macqueen that he look at Strauss along with other contenders, dismissing misgivings by some about a former foreign international leading Australia.
The Wallaby scrumhalf great said players like Strauss and former Argentine Wallaby props Enrique Rodigeuz and Patricio Noriega were as much Australians as anyone born in Australia.
No.8 Strauss captained South Africa in mid-week matches. He has been outstanding for New South Wales since returning to rugby last year after a stint in Australian rugby league.
He fulfilled the residential qualification to play for Australia late last year and was named in the Wallabies’ World Cup January 1999 training camp. “Tiaan Strauss is someone who I haven’t seen for a long while but I played against him when I was finishing up,” Farr-Jones said on Thursday.
“I know he has had senior roles in South African rugby and I would not be averse to giving him the captaincy if he was in the team.
“At the end of the day you need someone who can inspire people, who can lift people.”
Farr-Jones also was positive about the captaincy prospects of hooker Phil Kearns and flanker David Wilson, the early favourite. — AFP