Stephen Moore’s hooking position appears to be entirely up for grabs after the Wallabies skipper announced his retirement from international rugby.
The 34-year-old will step aside from the Test ranks at the end of this year’s European tour, admitting his dream of making the 2019 World Cup was a bridge too far.
The problem for coach Michael Cheika is there is no obvious replacement for him.
Moore has been a mainstay for Australia in the No.2 jersey for a decade and while there are many contenders none of them have a convincing case to take over the key front-row spot.
The only other hookers in Australia’s current training squad are Tatafu Polota-Nau, another veteran at 32, and the uncapped Jordan Uelese, a talented under-20s prospect who has been called up for the first time.
Moore said he had only met “big unit” Uelese this week but believes he has a bright future.
“He seems like a really sharp kid and he’s really keen to learn, he’s been asking lots of questions,” he said.
“It’s great to see now young players like himself are coming through and you’d like to think he’ll be thereabouts as he continues his career.”
NSW’s Tolu Latu has played four Tests but is currently injured and was last month criticised by Cheika for not understanding how hard he needs to train to earn a Wallabies berth.
However, Moore believes Latu proved last year he “belongs” at Test level and would seem to have a strong claim once his fitness issues are sorted out.
Andrew Ready, Moore’s protege at the Queensland Reds, is the smoky.
The 24-year-old finished last year as arguably Australia’s best young hooking prospect, but then fell off the radar after losing his Super Rugby spot following a missed recovery session to go out drinking.
He also copped public barbs from coach Nick Stiles for letting his off-field standards slip.
“If you look at the trajectory of the team, Cheik will probably want to have most of his World Cup team in place by next season as is usually the way. For Andrew it’s really important that he has a really big year next year at Super Rugby level,” Moore said.