Western Force coach Simon Cron praises Wallabies after Ben Donaldson released to face British and Irish Lions

Western Force coach Simon Cron has paid tribute to the Wallabies after Kurtley Beale’s heartbreaking injury led to the eleventh-hour return of Ben Donaldson to face the British and Irish Lions. Just hours after he fronted the press on Tuesday and spoke of his delight at the prospect of facing the Lions at Optus Stadium on Saturday, Beale tweaked a hamstring at Force training. While the Force hoped it would not be serious, scans revealed it was enough to prevent Beale from taking the field against the Lions in their first tour game this weekend. “He’s hugely disappointed, he was so excited to play, and he loves the big games,” Cron said. “He’s a big game player, and we love him in our team, he’s been a real asset to us as a leader. “He’s bitterly disappointed. I was on the phone with him four or five times last night, walking through different scenarios.” Beale is expected to be sidelined for close to two weeks and will likely be available for the First Nations and Pasifika XV game against the Lions in Melbourne on July 22. But Cron revealed they had planned injury contingencies ahead of time, and the Wallabies coaching staff sprang into action upon hearing the devastating Beale news. “We were in conversations with Joe (Schmidt) and the Wallabies staff for the last month or so around, how this is going to work, the matrix of players,” he said. “They’ve been really clear and precise with us around if there are injuries, they’re really flexible around being able to open their door. “Joe called me last night and was like, ‘we’ve seen that KB has got the hamstring, we can get Donno back to you to cover that injury.’ “This stuff gets planned out two to three months in advance, not two to three days, and we had a number of conversations. It was always in the making; we knew we’d get Donno back if we had an injury.” Donaldson, last year’s Nathan Sharpe Medalist, will slot in at full-back rather than his favoured fly-half role, with Alex Harford having trained in the 10 jersey for the past month and Cron opting for cohesion in the backline. Ollie Hoskins and Sam Carter will start in their final professional matches, while one-cap All Black Matt Proctor — who did not play all season due to a shoulder issue — gets the nod at outside centre, and homegrown prop Marley Pearce has recovered from injury to take his place on the bench. Cron said the players were well aware of the rareness of the occasion and they would “walk towards” the challenge the star-studded Lions provided. “We had a bit of a yarn about how you were 12 years ago, and wow, will you be 12 years from now?” Cron said. “That’s the importance of this game, and that’s the special type of game that it is. They’re under no illusion around that.” “You have a look at the big rocks; we can’t go too wide. ‘ABC’: assume some things, believe nothing, and confirm on field is probably our approach. “We’ve got some guys on that field that can do that, and then there’ll be other guys that we’re just working on making sure they play the game, not the occasion. “They should be excited by it, and if they are excited and they love what they do, and they love being on that field, then they’ll play the type of game they want to play.” Western Force XV vs British and Irish Lions Tom Robertson, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Ollie Hoskins Sam Carter, Darcy Swain Will Harris, Vaiolini Ekuasi, Nick Champion de Crespigny Nic White (c), Alex Harford Hamish Stewart, Matt Proctor Dylan Pietsch, Ben Donaldson, Mac Grealy Reserves: Nic Dolly, Marley Pearce, Tiaan Tauakipulu, Lopeti Faifua, Reed Prinsep, Henry Robertson, Max Burey, Bayley Kuenzle.