Wallabies prepare to embrace Kurtley Beale after text scandal

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/27/wallabies-kurtley-beale-text-scandal

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Australia’s players insist they will be happy to welcome Kurtley Beale back into the squad and will “throw our support around” the player once he is declared fit enough to join the tour party in Europe. The new Wallaby management has indicated they are planning to recall Beale despite his recent £25,000 fine for sending an offensive text message to the former team business manager, Di Patston.

The affair is still rumbling in Australia, with Patston telling The Australian newspaper she felt “degraded” by the experience and had considered suicide. Even 12,000 miles away on a sunny London morning with a new management team in charge there continues to be no escape for the players, with the scrum-half Nick Phipps conceding the headlines had affected the squad. “I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t distracting,” he said. “You only have to look on Twitter and see a new article pop up about something or other. That does affect the boys a little bit.”

Phipps was also impressively frank on the vexed topic of sexual harassment in the workplace, insisting it is inaccurate to label the Australia dressing room an inherently sexist environment. “I have noticed a lot of people are commenting about harassment in the workplace and things like that. My mum and sister would kick me in the rear end if they ever thought I was like that,” he said. “It doesn’t reflect at all on the playing group.

“We’re fully supportive of women in sport and we always will be. I find it funny that gender’s brought into it. If they’re good enough to do the job I’m more than happy for them to be there.”

On the subject of Beale, the Wallaby camp are also firmly of the opinion that, having been cleared of sending a second, more derogatory message to Patston, the player should now be allowed to get on with his career.

Once again, Phipps made a gallant effort to untangle a deeply sensitive situation. “He’s the first one to say he made a mistake – it’s well documented,” he said. “What he did was not right in any way. But I think he deserves a chance … at the end of the day who doesn’t deserve a chance? It would be great to have him back in the fold. I’d love to have him around: he’s a great bloke and he’s been dragged through the mud a little bit in the last few months.”

The prospect of the Waratahs playmaker featuring on the tour has been significantly increased by the appointment of his provincial mentor Michael Cheika as the Australia coach in succession to Ewan McKenzie. The new defence coach, the former centre Nathan Grey, confirmed Beale will be picked if his fitness returns to the required level following almost a month of inactivity. “Kurtley has not played for a long period and is trying to get his conditioning up to speed,” said Grey, who also worked with Beale at the Waratahs.

“Once he has done that he will definitely be considered for selection. The process he has gone through has been clear and direct and has been resolved. It is now a matter of getting on with the rugby. If Kurtley works hard, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be considered for selection.”

There will also be no objections from the rest of the squad if and when Beale returns, always assuming he rejects rival offers from rugby league. “You just need to see his smile when he’s having a laugh to know he loves wearing the green and gold,” said Phipps. “We’ll throw our support behind him. At the end of the day there are 33 players here. If he fits into that he’ll come over, if not we’ll pick him up again next year.”

With a game against the Barbarians this Saturday followed by Test matches on successive weekends against Wales, France, Ireland and England, there is also a tangible desire within the squad to draw a line under the off-field problems which have dogged the Wallabies all year.

“It’s been an interesting few months,” acknowledged Phipps. “To be honest me and the group just want to put that behind us and have a crack over here away from Australia.

“Hopefully we can play well enough to get articles written about how well the boys are playing and get back the enthusiasm for Australian rugby that hasn’t been felt in the last year.”