Western Force coach Simon Cron to lead Australia A as retiring Wallabies assistant praises his nephew

Rugby Australia have shown their faith in Simon Cron, with the Western Force coach to take the reins of Australia A on Japanese soil next weekend. It comes as his uncle Mike Cron, the retiring Wallabies assistant affectionately known as ‘the scrum doctor’, paid tribute to his nephew. Cron will by joined by five Force players in the representative squad of 26 who will face a Japan XV side in Osaka next Saturday. Chief among the Force quintet is fly-half Ben Donaldson, who is looking to fight his way back into the Wallabies’ selection frame. Donaldson looked rusty in his two starts for the Force in their four-game Super Rugby AUS campaign; since the end of the Force’s normal home-and-away season in May, he registered just 87 minutes across three Wallabies games before getting injured and returning in the off-season competition. He will be joined by lock Darcy Swain, centre Hamish Stewart, winger Mac Grealy and young scrum-half Henry Robertson as the Force contingent in the squad, while new Force assistant Brad Harris will join Cron’s Australia A staff as an assistant. Cron is well respected inside Rugby Australia’s walls, and was invited to spend time observing the Wallabies during their Bledisloe Cup preparations in Perth last week. While it helps his uncle is a world-renowned scrum coach with Joe Schmidt’s ear, the elder Cron told reporters last week his nephew had become an excellent coach in his own right. “Boys love playing for him — that’s the sign of a good coach,” he said. “He’s top-class, developing. Sometimes the biggest strengths and weaknesses are he tries to do too much, and he’s learning how to delegate a bit with other staff and he’s developed that over here at Western Force. He’s world-class.” Mike Cron finished his tenure with the Wallabies last weekend, but has agreed to continue his work with Australian Rugby as a mentor for the next generation of forwards coaches, particularly around the scrum.