French club unwilling to release Will Skelton for Wallabies duties, unlikely to play Argentina tour
Coach Joe Schmidt has backed his players after a two match wipe out by the Springboks, with French club La Rochelle unwilling to release a much needed Will Skelton for the Argentina tour.
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AN unwillingness from French club La Rochelle to release Will Skelton for Wallabies duty will likely keep him out of the coming tour to Argentina, as coach Joe Schmidt backed the locks in his camp.
After being comprehensively outmuscled in two consecutive Tests by the world champion Springboks, the 145kg Skelton would be an ideal addition to the forward pack, but Schmidt is confident in his stocks.
“I continue to have conversations with Will, but it is complicated to get someone like Will back out of the Top 14 lead-in, which is currently underway,” Schmidt said.
“They’re in pre-season training.
“And at the same time, I felt Lukhan [Salakaia-Loto] played well tonight, Nick Frost is coming back in after a good game, and Angus Blyth, gee I thought he fought really hard in that first half.
“So there are guys there that are working really hard and are incredibly keen to wear the jersey. I know Will is as well, he’s really proud of being a Wallaby.
“In the context of Marika [Koroibete], it was great to have him back and I felt he added a bit of an edge and experience.”
Schmidt confirmed Frost and fellow lock option Jeremy Williams would be available for the two-leg trip to Argentina after missing the 30-12 defeat to South Africa in Perth.
“Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams are both back from injury, they’re both available which is great,” Schmidt said.
“Nick Frost, certainly the games I’ve watched and the games I’ve coached against him, that was certainly his best game for the Wallabies last week [in Brisbane], I thought he was outstanding.
“He’s a big, athletic man, very good in the lineout, and probably the most physical I’ve seen him play.
“So there’s a couple of those guys come back, Taniela [Tupou] comes back. But we’re going to have to reassess a couple of other guys.
“The good thing is that we’ve got a weekend that we don’t have to play, so with the 12-day stand down there may be some guys that come back and are ready to play by the time we get to Buenos Aires and play that first game against the Argentinians.”
But other key forwards including Fraser McReight and Liam Wright remain uncertain, while there are new injury concerns from the bruising Perth encounter that featured a sequence Schmidt has never experienced in 100 Test matches.
Captain Allan Alaalatoa (concussion) and loose-head Angus Bell (head cut) were replaced at half-time, but moments into the second half James Slipper (concussion) was forced off and then hooker Josh Nasser suffered calf cramps, forcing uncontested scrums.
“It’s very hard to keep up when things are happening that quickly, some of it was managed at half-time because Allan and Angus Bell came off at half-time, but then you know you’re skinny, you can’t afford to lose another prop,” Schmidt said.
“And then Slips got an HIA right at the start of the second half so then you’re in trouble straight away, and then Josh Nasser around the 55-minute mark kept cramping, we were hoping he’d be able to play on but it just wasn’t going to be possible.
“So we had two hookers and a very young tighthead prop.
“I’ve been involved in coaching over 100 Test matches and I’ve never seen that before.”
Schmidt rued the several missed attacking chances squandered by his team.
“When we got to 18-12, and it stayed like that for a little while, we had a couple of half opportunities to potentially build pressure or capitalise on opportunity that we didn’t take,” he said.
“And if you don’t get those, and don’t grab those and don’t create a little bit of doubt in their mind that we’re close enough and dangerous enough, then that was a little bit of frustration.”
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Originally published as French club unwilling to release Will Skelton for Wallabies duties, unlikely to play Argentina tour