{"id":396756,"date":"2026-01-07T04:44:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T04:44:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396756\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T04:44:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T04:44:05","slug":"champion-de-crespigny-reflects-as-wallabies-regroup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/396756\/","title":{"rendered":"Champion de Crespigny reflects as Wallabies regroup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Loose forward Nick Champion de Crespigny<\/a> is back in Wallabies camp, with the entire 40-man group \u201cbuzzing with energy\u201d about six weeks on from their last match of a mammoth 2025 international season.<\/p>\n

Champion de Crespigny debuted for the national team in a 27-19 defeat to the British & Irish Lions<\/a> at Brisbane\u2019s Suncorp Stadium. The loose forward captained the Wallabies for the first time in a four-point win over Japan<\/a> in October.<\/p>\n

That was Australia\u2019s sole triumph from their Spring Tour, as they became the first Wallabies team since 1958 to go winless during a four-Test European tour. Defeats to England, Italy, Ireland<\/a> and France<\/a> saw records tumble during a tough end to the season.<\/p>\n

It was the first time in 126 years that the Wallabies had lost 10 Tests in a calendar year, which included a record-setting 11th consecutive defeat to the All Blacks<\/a>. The men in gold finished 2025 with a 33 per cent winning percentage from 15 matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a long Test year but for the guys in the group, we relish the chance to wear the jersey so it\u2019s no excuse. A lot of other teams play lots of Test as well,\u201d Champion de Crespigny told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been nice to be able to put your feet up a little bit, spend time with your family and friends and not live out of a suitcase.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has been nice to get back around the group and everyone\u2019s buzzing with energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wallabies started their season with a last-gasp 21-18 win over the Flying Fijians in Newcastle, with captain Harry Wilson<\/a> scoring the match-winning try in the dying stages. That was their only match before the Lions Series, which saw the Wallabies deliver some valiant performances.<\/p>\n

While the Wallabies went into the series as firm underdogs, the home side fell just shy of victory in the second Test at the MCG, before winning the final match in Sydney. The Aussies followed that result with a historic comeback win against South Africa<\/a> in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

After winning two of 10 matches to bring their 2025 campaign to an end, the Wallabies had time back at home with friends and family, recharging before another big year. Les Kiss will succeed Joe Schmidt as the Wallabies\u2019 Head Coach after the first block of Nations Championships Tests.<\/p>\n

40 players assembled for a three-day Wallabies camp in Sydney on January 5, allowing the squad to debrief 2025 and turn their focus towards the year ahead. Queensland Reds<\/a> prop Massimo de Lutiis is the only uncapped player selected to participate in this camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always pretty tough, the break goes pretty quickly,\u201d Champion de Crespigny reflected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boys are excited to get back into it and be around each other again. We\u2019re a really close group and I think everyone\u2019s really excited to review last season and come back bigger and better and get ripped in for a big 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Loose forward Nick Champion de Crespigny is back in Wallabies camp, with the entire 40-man group \u201cbuzzing with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396757,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-396756","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396756\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}