The Australian sevens player Tom Cusack has urged selectors to stick with specialist players in the pursuit of Olympic Games gold and says Super Rugby ring-ins will be ''found out'' if they are selected for one-off appearances.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Cusack continued his impressive rise through the ranks when he was picked in the Australian team to play at the World Cup in Moscow later this month.
He will be joined by Queanbeyan junior Lewis Holland, while the former Canberra mechanic Sharni Williams will captain the women's side at the tournament.
But the most contentious issue of the selection was coach Michael O'Connor's decision to add three Super Rugby players - Bernard Foley, Matt Lucas and Luke Morahan - to the 12-man squad.
Sevens will be added to the Olympic program for the Rio games in 2016. It throws up a difficult scenario for coaches and they will have to choose between backing specialist sevens players or cherry-picking Australia's best 15-a-side players.
Cusack, a former Australian schoolboys and under-20s representative, has made a full-time transition to sevens this year. He has put his Super Rugby ambitions on hold to chase an Olympic berth and he is on track after making the final cut for the World Cup team.
''You've got to pick a team to win the World Cup and we're putting the best team forward … Foley, Lucas and Morahan have only recently left the sevens game,'' Cusack said.
''Sevens is a completely different game now. If you don't have any exposure to it, you will be found out. It's something you need to put time into to get the reward.
''I hope they do stick with the guys who are playing all the time … we're on the rise and we're close to winning a tournament.''
The Australian team will fly to Moscow on June 20 for the tournament which runs from June 28-30. They will play France, Spain and Tunisia in the group stages.
Foley is a former Australian sevens captain while Lucas played last year and Morahan was part of the squad in 2009 and won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games.
The sevens team travels the world during the Super Rugby season and plays in tournaments in Las Vegas, Hong Kong, Wellington, Tokyo and London.
But with superstars from the Super Rugby teams likely to be available to play at an Olympics, the ARU could opt to pick them to boost the chances of winning gold.
Cusack is adamant the transition isn't as easy as turning up. ''I feel I've adapted well but I need to do more work,'' the 20-year-old said. ''Now it's about trying to go on with it, not only playing a part but being dominant.''
