Rugby: Radike Samo celebrated his 35th birthday with a Super rugby title with the Queensland Reds on Saturday, then discovered he had been recalled to Australia's Tri-Nations side, seven years after he last played for the Wallabies.
Samo, who played six times for the Wallabies in 2004 before he went overseas in 2006, had been in semi-retirement until he was rushed into the Reds squad late last year as they suffered a horrendous injury toll towards the end of the season.
The former Fijian under-19 international earned a contract with the Reds and was one of two other players - lock Dan Vickerman and fullback Mark Gerrard - who have returned from overseas and were named by Wallabies coach Robbie Deans on Sunday as he fine tunes his World Cup contention.
"His performances speak for themselves," Wallabies coach Robbie Deans said of Samo's re-introduction to the test squad after a strong season for the Reds that was capped with an 18-13 victory over the Canterbury Crusaders in the final on Saturday.
"Seven years after he first played test matches, he has got into good shape physically and has shown that he still has an appetite for rugby at this level."
Deans also named seven uncapped players in the squad, though wingers Rod Davies and Luke Morahan, scrumhalf Nick Phipps and loose forward Dave Dennis, have been involved in the national setup before but not played a test match.
Flanker Beau Robinson, hooker James Hanson and lock Sitaleki Timani have been called into the side for the first time.
Regular wing Drew Mitchell, who dislocated his ankle, and utility back Berrick Barnes, who temporarily stood down from all rugby after suffering a succession of head injuries, were not included in the squad.
Deans said up to six players in the enlarged squad would not be available for the Wallabies' test match against Samoa on July 17 before the Tri-Nations begins on July 23 against South Africa in Sydney.
"In terms of the players who are currently on the sidelines, we wont be rushing any of them," Deans said. "But we need to get them all started, in terms of being exposed to all of the detail, as part of our preparation.
"That's one of the reasons why we have opted for an enlarged squad at this point. The expansion of Super rugby and this years rugby World Cup has condensed the schedule significantly which has placed an even greater importance on making sure that we have covered all selection-related eventualities, as there isn't a lot of time between matches.
"To that end, we want the guys to be playing so, as we have done in previous years, we will be looking to have as many of the players playing as is possible by releasing them to their clubs where we can."
