Campo and Wallabies bury the hatchet

Campese: Time to kiss and make up

Legendary Wallaby wing David Campese has been welcomed back into the Wallabies fold after being invited to present the Australian side with their jerseys ending the rift between the former player and the team that has lasted for years.

Campese has practically been banished from interacting with the Wallaby Test team for most of the last decade due to the outspoken former wingers criticism of the side in his hard-hitting columns not being appreciated by senior members of the team.

Never was the rift more apparent than last year when several Wallabies rejected Campese as a candidate to hand out the jerseys ahead of their Test with the Springboks in Cape Town.

A new generation of Wallabies and a new coach have meant a change in climate and have once again opened the door to the 101-cap great.

Campese was asked to hand out the Test jerseys to the Wallabies in Durban on Thursday ahead of their transfer to Johannesburg for Saturday's Test at Ellis Park.

Campese, who lives in Durban, said it was "an honour" to be asked.

"It was quite surprising to get the call but obviously I didn't hesitate to accept," he told the Daily Telegraph.

Campese said the influence of his former Test foe Robbie Deans, and the departure of veterans such as George Gregan, had transformed the Wallabies on and off the field.

"You can sense there's a real change in the atmosphere of the Wallabies this year, a more relaxed feeling and you can see that in the way they play," he said.

"The burdens have lifted off the players and they are enjoying their rugby. There's no baggage."

Campese said the Cape Town rejection had not fazed him, nor affected his intention to speak his mind on the Wallabies.

"There were some people who didn't like to hear what needed to be said at the time," he said.

"It's been pleasing to see the Wallabies being so successful this year under Robbie Deans and his direction to run the footy and to let guys back themselves.

"I've always thought these guys were the dark horses for the Tri-Nations and their win at the weekend confirmed that."

The invitation to present the jerseys to the Wallabies came in the same week that Gregan launched an attack on Campese in his new book, saying the try-scoring maestro wouldn't have cut it in the professional era.

It seems clear the ARU is trying to bring Campese back into the fold, with this latest role coming after he was hired to help coach the Australian sevens team earlier this year in Adelaide and Hong Kong.