Our group is pretty angry Three Wallabies dropped from Bledisloe opener after drinking session

Wallabies coach Dave Rennie says a good portion of his squad is “pretty angry” at the behaviour of winger Marika Koroibete, back-rower Isi Naisarani and prop Pone Fa’amausili after a late night drinking session resulted in the trio being stood down for Saturday’s Bledisloe Cup opener against the All Blacks.

In a major blow for the Wallabies ahead of their quest to win back the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002, Koroibete, Naisarani and Fa’amausili have been handed one-match bans for breaking team curfew and continuing to drink in one of the players’ rooms on Saturday evening before a day off.

The wider playing group and staff had dinner and drinks at the team’s Auckland hotel and were advised to call it a night at a certain time, which Rennie declined to specify on Wednesday.

He did say, however, the trio took leftover alcohol and continued to drink for more than two hours beyond the curfew upstairs.

A Wallabies statement released on Wednesday made it clear there was “no illegal behaviour, no damage and no complaints made. No further investigation will take place, or any further action”.

Rennie, however, felt the need to front the media via Zoom to explain why Koroibete, arguably the team’s most potent player in the recent France series, and the two others weren’t considered for selection.

“Incredibly disappointed,” Rennie said. “To be honest, a big chunk of our group is pretty angry.

“It’s not so much [that they were] intoxicated, it’s the fact they continued drinking well beyond the time that was listed. We’d stated the importance of our preparation for the All Blacks. We all need to be at our very best to try and force the All Blacks to be below their best. It didn’t fit with that mindset.

Marika Koroibete won’t take part in Saturday’s first Bledisloe Cup match at Eden Park. Credit:Getty

“I’m not going to talk about the curfew time or how long they were up. What I will say is it was certainly more than two hours over the time that we discussed as a group. The guys went back to the room and carried on. I think there was a bit of leftover [alcohol] downstairs and they have obviously taken it upstairs with them.

“There wasn’t talk about sending them home. We’ve got a big squad [of] 42 players â€" 39 understood the importance of getting together and getting connected and having a quiet beer. Three guys lacked the discipline required beyond that.”

Asked how he was alerted to the drinking session, Rennie revealed a senior player had come forward.

“We got alerted via our manager ... who was alerted by one of the senior players,” Rennie said.

“We certainly informed [the leadership group] and they were supportive of the decision.”

Rennie defended the four-day delay in making the news public. He said the team was informed on Monday of the decision to stand down the three.

It is the first disciplinary issue Rennie has had to deal with in his time as Wallabies coach.

“Originally we were just going to announce it tomorrow [Thursday],” Rennie said.

“For the good of the team, if you sweep this sort of thing under the carpet it bites you in the backside later on. Everyone has a clear understanding regardless of your standing in the team. There is an expectation of behaviour and these three guys didn’t reach that.

“Their heads were down but they apologised to the team ... they’ve let the boys down. They’ve got to earn the trust and respect of those boys again and that’s through what they do rather than what they say.”

The news comes at a very bad time for Australian rugby, less than 24 hours after it emerged Rugby Australia was investigating the behaviour of men’s sevens players returning home from the Tokyo Olympics.

Sevens representatives were intoxicated on the flight and an investigation is under way.

Rennie does not believe the incident will affect the performance of a team aiming to break a 35-year drought at Eden Park.

“It won’t have a detrimental effect on performance,” Rennie said. “If anything, it’ll galvanise us.

“It’s a frustration for me personally because we’ve wasted a lot of time dealing with the players.”

RA chief executive Andy Marinos said: “While we also acknowledge that this is a minor incident, I applaud Dave and the team for taking such an open and transparent approach.”

Rennie remained tight-lipped about whether Quade Cooper would be named in Australia’s 23 for the Bledisloe opener.

“Tell you tomorrow,” Rennie said.

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Tom Decent is a journalist with The Sydney Morning Herald

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