{"id":85271,"date":"2025-08-21T15:42:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T15:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/85271\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T15:42:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T15:42:09","slug":"wallaroos-coach-explains-surprise-call-ahead-of-rugby-world-cup-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/85271\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallaroos coach explains surprise call ahead of Rugby World Cup opener"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MANCHESTER: Coach Jo Yapp has explained her unexpected captaincy call ahead of Australia\u2019s Rugby World Cup<\/a> opener against Samoa this weekend, with 24-year-old lock Kaitlan Leaney<\/a> sharing the leadership duties for the first time on the international stage.<\/p>\n

In the absence of regular skipper Siokapesi Palu<\/a> \u2013 who remains sidelined with a foot injury but is in camp with the Wallaroos in Manchester \u2013 \u00a0Leaney will combine with Emily Chancellor<\/a> as co-captains for the Test at Salford Community Stadium.<\/p>\n

Leaney has served as a vice-captain while Pesi was ruled out of both Tests against the Welsh on home soil, but the opportunity to lead the team into battle along with Chancellor was clearly still sinking in as the second-rower fronted the press on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe \u2013 The Threads That Bind Us<\/p>\n

Emotive new short film features Woodman-Wickliffe\u2019s Mount Albert Grammar School pupils speaking about the New Zealand rugby legend ahead of kick-off at the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025.<\/p>\n

\"VideoPortia Woodman-Wickliffe \u2013 The Threads That Bind Us<\/p>\n

Emotive new short film features Woodman-Wickliffe\u2019s Mount Albert Grammar School pupils speaking about the New Zealand rugby legend ahead of kick-off at the Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup 2025.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an honour that came as a bit of a shock to Leaney, who was out at coffee with a friend when Yapp tried to call the soon-to-be-crowned co-captain. Teammate Kalina Amosa has since backed the second rower in the role, insisting she is ready to lead the Wallaroos.<\/p>\n

Yapp is also supremely confident in Leaney\u2019s ability to take on this responsibility, describing it as \u201cjust the next natural progression\u201d in the NSW Waratahs enforcer\u2019s role as a leader within the national side.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been outstanding as a leader on and off the field,\u201d Yapp told reporters in Manchester.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer experiences she\u2019s got from playing overseas and she leads the lineout really well alongside [Michaela Leonard].<\/p>\n

\u201cJust seeing that growth in her on and off the field has been really impressive.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s been leading a lot within training and then obviously with the [Pesi] injury\u2026 we introduced her a couple of games out in terms of that vice-captaincy role,\u201d she went on to explain.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a leader on the field. She\u2019s been captain on the field before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaney joins former Wallaroos captain Michaela Leonard<\/a> in the second row, while Piper Duck<\/a> \u2013 another ex-skipper of the national side \u2013 packs down at blindside. Duck joins Chancellor and powerful No. 8 Tabua Tuinakauvadra<\/a> in the loose forwards.<\/p>\n

24-Test centre Cecilia Smith<\/a> is set to start a Test for the first time since the Pacific Four Series, partnering Georgina Friedrichs<\/a> in the midfield. Desiree Miller<\/a> and Maya Stewart<\/a> start on the wings, while 18-year-old Caitlyn Halse<\/a> makes World Cup history at fullback.<\/p>\n

Australia have been drawn in a tough pool along with upcoming opponents Samoa, tournament hosts England, and Pac Four rivals the USA. While next weekend\u2019s clash with the Americans looms as a potential quarter-final decider, beating Samoa is essential first.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe clich\u00e9 is one game at a time and just really focusing on our processes and making sure our week stays the same in terms of having real key focuses our various areas; attack, defence, lineout, scrum,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust being really clear with that with the players and focusing very much on us,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted to keep some continuity off the back of our last Wales game,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, Samoa and the USA, they\u2019re games that we want to set us up well with.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really important for us to have some continuity but you\u2019ll see there\u2019s a couple of players that we haven\u2019t included that there\u2019s an opportunity to potentially bring in next week.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MANCHESTER: Coach Jo Yapp has explained her unexpected captaincy call ahead of Australia\u2019s Rugby World Cup opener against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-85271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85271","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=85271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}