Shute Shield Rugby union: Italian stint has breakaway George Noa primed for big role at Hunter Wildfires

Noa is in contention to start against his former club Manly at Manly Oval on Saturday.

The 26-year-old, who played the 2021 season with the Wildfires, returned five weeks ago from a stint in Italy at Serie A club CUS Torino.

"George is a far more mature and complete player than he was when last here," Coleman said. "He knows what it takes as far as training and what you have to put in to get something worth while out of it. He is a big, strong ball runner and strong defender."

Noa played the 2022 season at Manly but has remained good friends with Wildfires Phil Bradford and Taulogo Lalaga.

"He reached out to us at the start of the year and said he wanted to come back to Newcastle once he had finished in Italy," Coleman said. "He will play a big part for us in the second half of the year."

Coleman is deciding between Noa and Ngarhue to start in the pack in place of openside breakaway Hamish Moore, who suffered a syndesmosis injury in the 50-28 loss to Eastwood.

"I'm tossing up whether to move Chlayton Frans to seven and bring George in at six or move Morgan Inness to seven and bring Ngaruhue Jones in at lock," Coleman said. "It's more working out which is the best way to start and finish. They will both get a chance, it's a matter of what combination we start with."

Moore is awaiting scans but is expected to miss at least a month. His injury follows a similar problem for Donny Freeman.

"We are running short of numbers sevens," Coleman said. "Roydon Miller and Matt Williams from seconds are both carrying injuries. There are no real genuine sevens in the club at the moment."

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In the backs, Nate De Thierry returns at fullback after missing the Eastwood defeat on international duty with Hong Kong.

Ueta Tufaga is in doubt with a hamstring issue. Nafi Tuitavake is on standby.

Manly sit are alongside the Wildfires on 39 points, but are in second place with a slightly better points differential.

"They have a pretty big forward pack and have been scoring a lot of tries from mauls," Coleman said. "They play a very similar style to us."

Meanwhile AAP reports, Australia's new forwards coach Neal Hatley has welcomed the Wallabies' daunting trip to Pretoria as the perfect season starter.

Australia open their Rugby Championship campaign against South Africa at Loftus Versfeld on July 8 in the much-anticipated first game of Eddie Jones' second tenure as Wallabies coach.

The Wallabies have lost their past seven Tests in South Africa and have never conquered the Springboks on the high veldt since first facing them in Pretoria 60 years ago.

But Hatley, the South African-born scrum guru hand-picked by Jones, is relishing the challenge and believes win or lose the Springboks will provide the Wallabies with an important barometer in a World Cup year.

"It's a great test," he said. "The Springboks, of course, always have two sets of front-rowers and are always ready to roll on and off so it's pretty much as much in the deep end as you could get for this first Test.

Hatley believes the Wallabies pack can take it to the very best in the world but needs to develop consistency and mongrel.