Aussie Sevens star Cam Clark is set to make his long awaited return to the 15-man game.
Clark’s one of three players returning from Rio included in the side with Con Foley and Tom Cusack also announced in the Sydney Rays 32-man squad for Buildcorp NRC season three.
23-year-old Clark has been a staple of the Australian Sevens since leaving school in 2011, his return to the traditional format, a possible audition for Super Rugby in 2017.
Cron believes the physical nature of Sevens will make the boys a great fit for his side who have been disappointing in the first two seasons in the competition.
“The fast nature of the way the NRC is played means you’ve got to have players who are fit and mobile,” he said.
“And a big engine is essential to the way I want us to play the game.”
The Shute Shield winning coach is hopeful he can translate his success with Northern Suburbs into better results for the Rays in 2016.
“The combinations that many of the players have worked on at Shute Shield level is going to be vitally important too,” he said.
“We’ve got to have as many functioning combinations as possible with only a couple of weeks to kickoff.
“We also need to have a similar mentality about the quality of our training and out work rate.
“It’s not going to be easy but if we apply ourselves the rewards will come.”
The team will be captained by Waratahs back-up scrumhalf Matt Lucas and begin their campaign at North Sydney Oval against the Western Sydney Rams on August 28.
Full Squad:
Harry Bergelin, James Brown, Cameron Clark, Tom Cusack, Tyson Davis, Jack Dempsey, Michael Dowsett, Damien Fitzpatrick, Con Foley, Adrian Hall, James Hilterbrand, Lawrance Hunting, Harry Jones, Sam Lane, Matt Lucas, Ezra Luxton, Johnathan Malo, Will Miller, Rory O’Connor, Nick Palmer, Dennis Pili-Gaitau, Dewett Roos, Angus Ryan, Irae Simone, Angus Sinclair, Hugh Sinclair, Michael Smith, Angus Ta’avao, Josh Turner, Michael Wells, Seb Wileman and Richard Woolf.
Marquee Wallabies Players: Michael Hooper and Rob Horne.
