Wallabies make amends with Campo
Fri, 29 Aug 2008 15:17
Wallaby Test legend David Campese was welcomed back into the Australian fold on Thursday to present the Australian side with their jerseys, prior to their departure to Johannesburg.
For much of this decade, the outspoken Campese has been very critical of the Wallabies in his hard-hitting columns - resulting in senior players requesting that the former wing have nothing to do with the Test side.
The mounting resentment between the two parties came to a head in Cape Town last year when several Wallabies rejected Campese as a candidate to hand out the matchday jerseys - a duty performed by a Wallaby great before every international.
However, with most of those senior players having now moved on, as well as a change of coach, came a change of heart.
The 101-Test legend thus handed out the gold jerseys to the Wallabies in Durban on Thursday night, ahead of their transfer to Johannesburg for Saturday's return Tri-Nations Test against the Springboks.
"It was quite surprising to get the call but obviously I didn't hesitate to accept," Campese told foxsports.com.
Campese felt the Deans' influence, as well as the departure of Test veterans like George Gregan, had transformed the Wallabies on and off the field.
"You can sense there's a real change in the atmosphere of the Wallabies this year, a more relaxed feeling and you can see that in the way they play," he said.
"The burdens have lifted off the players and they are enjoying their rugby. There's no baggage."
Campese, who now lives in Durban, said the rejection he received last year had not fazed him, nor affected his intention to remain outspoken about the Wallabies.
"There were some people who didn't like to hear what needed to be said at the time," he said.
"It's been pleasing to see the Wallabies being so successful this year under Robbie Deans and his direction to run the footy and to let guys back themselves.
"I've always thought these guys were the dark horses for the Tri-Nations and their win at the weekend confirmed that," Campese added.
Campese's honourary invite came in the same week that George Gregan launched an attack on the 45-year-old in his new book - saying Campese had frail defence in his day, wasn't fast enough and wouldn't hack it in the professional era.
However, it seems clear the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) are trying to bring Campese back into the Wallaby fold, after he was recently hired to help coach the Australian Sevens team earlier this year in Adelaide and Hong Kong.
