Henry Speight to use Wallabies axing as fire to regain Test jersey
Henry Speight says his Wallabies axing has "put the fire in my belly" to use the end of the Super Rugby season to force his way back into the Australian squad.
The cult hero winger had his best game of the season last week when he led the ACT Brumbies to a 10-point win against the Japan Sunwolves at Canberra Stadium.
But his try-scoring double and return to form came too late for a Wallabies call up after being overlooked by Australia's coaches for the three-Test series against Ireland, which starts in Brisbane on Saturday night.
"My main focus is trying to perform at the Brumbies ... if that takes me to higher honours then that's awesome," Speight said.
"But if it doesn't, it just adds fire in the belly to come back bigger and better. [The Sunwolves] game was another step in that direction and hopefully I can build on that before the end of the season.
"It does light the fire. The Wallabies are the pinnacle for every rugby player. When you get a taste of it, you want to get back. But I've got full support of the boys that are in the team to do the job against Ireland. For me, it's head down and bum up to try to work my way back in."
Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has picked Marika Korobiete, Jack Maddocks, Sefa Naivalu and Curtis Rona and Dane Haylett-Petty as wing options for the Test series.
Brumbies fullback Tom Banks was picked ahead of Speight as a Test bolter and is set to benefit from spending three weeks working with Israel Folau.
Speight will instead fine tune his game at Brumbies training and in Japan when the side plays an exhibition match against Suntory on June 17.
The Fijian-born flyer has had a mixed season and limited opportunities as the Brumbies try to find their feet in a new style of attacking rugby.
It finally clicked against the Sunwolves and Speight was the main beneficiary, making 17 runs for 145 metres, beating 10 defenders and making seven clean breaks to go with his two tries.
"I think Henry's been more up the past month or so, I've been impressed with 'Silky'," said Brumbies coach Dan McKellar.
"His attitude has been really good around the group and he's a leader. He doesn't say a lot, Henry, but when he does, the boys listen.
"[In games] you just want the ball in his hands and importantly he wants the ball in his hands. That's probably the difference over the last four weeks ... he's demanded the football. That's what you encourage him to do."
The Brumbies will use the three-week Super Rugby break to refresh and test new combinations with eight of their key players in camp with the Wallabies.
McKellar is urging the players to adopt a 'no fear' attitude to games as they walk an tightrope just to be in Super Rugby finals contention when the season resumes on June 30.
The Brumbies will play the Wellington Hurricanes, Waikato Chiefs and NSW Waratahs in the last three rounds of the regular season. They need to win all three and rely on other results going their way to make the play-offs for a sixth consecutive season.
"The main for us is to getting into an attacking groove and playing with patience, but without fear at the same time," Speight said.
"We're happy with the way we've built our game over the last few weeks ... now we have some time to reflect and then try to build on what we've done when we go to Japan.
"We've got three big games coming up when Super Rugby starts again, but it's a challenge we're looking forward to. If we can keep going the way we are, throw the ball around and do what we're aiming for, it'll be a good three weeks."