Wallabies back Elsom as Cup captain - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Wallabies back Elsom as Cup captain

By Darren Walton 13/08/2011 11:18:33 AM Comments (0)

Wallabies hooker Stephen Moore insists Rocky Elsom must lead Australia to next month's Rugby World Cup despite calls for the big flanker to be axed as captain.

Coach Robbie Deans and fellow selectors Jim Williams and David Nucifora will announce a 30-man Cup squad next Thursday after returning from the Wallabies' Tri Nations clash with the Springboks in Durban.

Elsom is slowly building his fitness and form after only returning last month from hamstring and ankle injuries and his place in the starting side has come under question following Australia's losses to Samoa and New Zealand.

Moore, though, has no doubts Elsom, widely considered the premier blindside flanker in world rugby two years ago, remains the man for the Wallabies.

"He's the captain of the side and he's got the full support of the team as well," Moore told AAP.

"He was injured for the entire Super Rugby season, so he hasn't had a lot of rugby under his belt and you don't just click your fingers.

"A lot of that time he wasn't even able to run because he had a lower limb injury and it does take time to come back to your best form.

"I can guarantee he's doing everything he can to make up for the time that he was out of the game.

"So I've got every confidence that he can continue to play well. He's a world-class player."

Moore said former Wallabies fullback Greg Martin's claim that against Samoa "when things were falling apart, he didn't say anything, he didn't do anything", was merely one person's opinion of how a captain must lead.

"Rocky doesn't speak unless it's necessary," he said.

"Some guys lead with their actions and he's probably more towards that side of player and other guys like to say a fair bit."

Moore, also a Brumbies teammate of Elsom's over the past two Super Rugby seasons, rubbished Martin's suggestion that the Wallabies skipper had upset the Canberra franchise by not attending many games while recovering from his injuries.

"I know Rocky had to travel to Sydney to get a lot of treatment for his hamstring and he was on a pretty intensive program to get that right," he said.

"He did everything he could to get involved in the Brumbies set-up. He's a quiet guy, but I don't find him to be aloof at all.

"He's been a great mate over a long period of time. But sometimes when a player is injured you don't want them hanging around all the time.

"If you can't offer something on the field, there's not necessarily a role to be hanging around all the time.

"So there's no issue there at all."

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