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Will Skelton can barely remember the last time he captained a team but he is not shying away from leading the Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup in France.
- Skelton was named as captain ahead of James Slipper and Tate McDermott
- Wallabies coach Eddie Jones says Skelton is a "very good leader of men"
- Michael Hooper was left out of the Wallabies' Rugby World Cup squad
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones dumped veteran prop James Slipper from his co-captaincy role and left out injured fellow leader Michael Hooper from his squad altogether, opting instead to hand the reins to 203-centimetre tall lock Skelton.
Halfback Tate McDermott, who captained the Wallabies in their Bledisloe Cup Test defeat to the All Blacks on Saturday, will be Skelton's deputy.
France-based Skelton admitted he lacked leadership experience and was "not much of a talker".
But the 31-year-old was happy to answer Jones's call.
"It's very special, not just for me but my family," Skelton said.
"Putting on the jersey is one thing and then to be named captain, selected by Eddie, is something I'll never forget.
"What comes with that is a lot of responsibilities, a bit more pressure. It's just about being myself, leading in the only way I can, which is through my actions.
"It's getting this group well connected for a hard slog."
Jones said he was confident Skelton would be up for the challenge of captaining the Wallabies at the Rugby World Cup, which begins next month.
"Part of the job of taking over the team was to develop a leadership team that could take Australian rugby back to where we want to be, and that's at the top of the world," Jones said.
"There's a bit of trial and error. We went with two experienced guys in Hoops [Hooper] and Slipps [Slipper], but unfortunately Hoops got injured after one game so that was the end of that experiment.
"We've been looking at what is the right mix of people to captain the team … it's more than captaining … Will's a very good leader of men."
Skelton recalled one previous captaincy experience, leading a Wallabies XV against the French Barbarians in 2016, a match his side lost 19-11.
He will form a lock pairing with either Richie Arnold or Nick Frost at the Rugby World Cup.
"We've got a lot of experience in our pack, some big men as well," Skelton said.
"They love the physical battle, having that size and that power can go one of two ways — we can shy away from it or we can take it forward and step into that contact and that physicality.
"I've got no question we'll be able to help these young boys in our team really go forwards."
AAP
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