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Robinson raring to go

Gun Wallabies prop Benn Robinson is confident he'll be back on deck in time for his side's Tri Nations opener against the Springboks in Brisbane on July 24.

Wednesday, 30 June 2010

Sportal.co.nz

Gun Wallabies prop Benn Robinson is confident he'll be back on deck in time for his side's Tri Nations opener against the Springboks in Brisbane on July 24.

Robinson was forced to sit out the opening four Tests of the campaign after undergoing surgery to repair his fractured right forearm seven weeks ago.

The 25-year-old, who is hoping to play at least one game for his club side Eastwood in the coming weeks, was sorely missed in June as a greenhorn Wallabies front row endured a tough initiation against Fiji, England and Ireland.

But the world-class loosehead says he's ready to make up for lost time.

"I'm champing at the bit to get back out there again," he told Sportal.

"This is probably the longest break I've had in a long time and as much as you like giving your body a break, you definitely want to be out there in those games and giving it your all."

"I'm at the seven-week mark now and the doc initially said six to eight weeks and I'll be playing again. It's feeling pretty good, I had an X-ray on it last week and the scan was good."

"I'll be working pretty closely with Robbie and the team doctors to get an understanding of what he wants to do with me. I'd like to definitely play one game at least for Eastwood ... I think for me match fitness will be a big one so getting 80 minutes at club level would really benefit my game."

Robinson admits he felt the pain the Wallabies front row endured during their harrowing ordeal against the powerful England scrum in Perth, but says Ben Daley, Salesi Ma'afu and Saia Faingaa will all be better for the experience.

"With the amount of work you've put in over the last three or four years it's tough to see the boys do it tough out there," he said.

"That hurts me just as much as it hurts them out on the field when there's penalties against them."

"Experience definitely does play a big part but those boys, as it showed against Ireland on Saturday night, they'll definitely take steps forward."

"Our scrum's been building for the past three or four years now and we're right up there with one of the best scrums in the world, so I think for those blokes to be thrown in the deep end is very healthy for them and healthy for rugby in Australia."

Meanwhile, Robinson labelled the All Blacks the team to beat in the upcoming Tri Nations tournament but is confident the Wallabies can end their nine-year drought having not lifted the trophy since 2001.

"I don't think you can ever write off the All Blacks," he said.

"They've been on top of the game for a long time now and I think for them they're a very consistent team and they put on very consistent performances all the time, so they're going to be a tough team to battle against. But I think the level of footy in the Super 14 (from the Australian teams) was very high and we expect to see a transfer of that into the Tri Nations as well."

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