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SYDNEY - Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock has signalled Australia's rugby World Cup squad will put team unity first and adopt a group curfew for the tournament in France.
Mortlock said today he will discuss a blanket team curfew with his players so as not to isolate winger Lote Tuqiri and prop Matt Dunning, who were slapped with midnight bedtimes last week following a late night out in Brisbane.
Veteran five-eighth Stephen Larkham last week called for solidarity with Tuqiri and Dunning, and Mortlock hinted today he was also leaning that way.
"I think one-in all-in's a good one to live by and certainly us coming off that (boot) camp that we did a couple of weeks ago, that was all about team first, individuals second," he said.
"I think (Larkham) pretty much echoes most of the mindsets of the team.
"Two guys have been forced into a situation and I'm sure most guys will be more than happy to back them up.
"No doubt the team will talk about that and assess whether we want to do that.
"It's not too far from our guidelines we expect each other to abide by anyway."
Coach John Connolly described Larkham's comments as "fine" but reiterated he would not be enforcing a curfew on the World Cup tour, which begins this week.
"Everyone's individuals here," he said.
"If the players do what they want to do, that's fine.
"They're a very tight-knit group, I think there's a lot of spirit in the squad which we saw against the All Blacks this year and we saw on the recent camp we went on, they're pretty united."
The Australian squad gathered in Sydney today ahead of Thursday's departure for a five-day camp in Portugal en route to France.
Connolly said he had no concerns over No 8s Wycliff Palu (shoulder, hamstring) and David Lyons (DVT), but prop Guy Shepherdson has a knee problem which the coach said was "a bit of a concern for us".
Connolly said he will play his strongest side in the Wallabies' Cup opener against Japan in Lyon on September 8.
- AAP
