Wallabies announced XV to face Fiji, with star Joseph Suaalii set to return from broken jaw

Joe Schmidt likens it to “speed dating” and has told Australian rugby fans to expect the “unknown”. Get the latest news as the Wallabies prepare to take on World Cup nemesis Fiji.

One of the first things Joe Schmidt said when he was hired to clean up the mess that was left by Eddie Jones was that there would be no quick fixes to solving the Wallabies’ problems.

A year on, it’s clearer than ever that the former New Zealand school teacher wasn’t pulling anyone’s leg.

With two weeks to go before the Wallabies take on rugby’s ultimate challenge of tackling the combined night of the British & Irish Lions, Schmidt is still trying to figure out his best line-up.

He hasn’t been helped by a number of untimely injuries to key senior players, but Schmidt’s first team of 2025, to take on Fiji in Newcastle on Sunday, contains so many new combinations that you could be forgiven for thinking they just met on Tinder.

And that’s straight from the horse’s mouth.

“It’s almost like speed dating,” Schmidt said.

“(We’re) trying to get these guys together as quick as we can to try to build some combinations.

“Sunday will be a little bit of the unknown,” he added.

“But we hopefully will recognise a few things about how we try to play and recognise some good performances from some players.”

Australia's centre Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has been picked to face Fiji. Picture: AFP

The good news for Schmidt is that he’s already got some of his most talented young players back and ready to face Fiji.

Australian rugby’s $5 million man Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has been given the all-clear to play his first Test on home soil after breaking his jaw in mid-May.

And electric wing Max Jorgensen is also back after recovering from an ankle injury that cut short his Super Rugby season.

In fact, most of the Wallabies’ first-choice backs have been passed fit and included in the squad. The main exception is halfback Jake Gordon, who has been replaced By Tate McDermott and Nic White but will be available for the opening Test against the Lions on July 19.

The forwards are missing two of their big trump cards, two-time John Eales medallist Rob Valetini and giant lock Will Skelton, but Schmidt said their omissions were mostly precautionary because they’ll be needed for the bigger matches ahead.

“I’d be very confident all three of those guys will be ready to train at the start of the week for that lead into the British & Irish Lions first Test, but for this week it was probably a week too soon,” Schmidt said.

“We’ve got a very short runway into this game and then into the games that follow. We’ve got a massive Test schedule this year with 15 Test matches. So it is all about trying to get ourselves organised to hit the ground running.

Unable to escape the enormous shadow of the upcoming Lions series, Schmidt was at pains to remind everyone that his only thoughts at the moment were on Sunday’s match with Fiji.

That’s the same one-game-at-a-time mantra every coach adopts but in the case of the Wallabies it’s true and includes the temporary reappointment of Harry Wilson as captain, even though he led the Wallabies impressively last year.

Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt.

“It’s for this Test at the moment,” Schmidt said.

“We’re trying to pick up where we left off effectively and where we were left off, Harry was leading the team and it allows other guys to just do their own role and not get too distracted by any leadership role.

“Your captain is a label and it’s a responsibility and there are actions associated with it. But those actions are also something we expect to be demonstrated by the broader leadership group.”

Schmidt’s ongoing experiments to find his best team included some unexpected selections that might yet pay off against the Lions.

Langi Gleeson, who was cut from a pre-season training camp after signing an overseas contract, will start at blindside flanker in the absence of Valetini, while hooker Dave Porecki, who captained the Wallabies during the disastrous 2023 World Cup, is back in the gold jersey for the first time in nearly two years.

James Slipper will start against Fiji.

Even veteran prop James Slipper has earned himself a surprise spot in the run-on side, with the Wallabies looking to build a more impactful replacement front row with the younger Angus Bell and Billy Pollard coming off the bench.

But while there’s a lot of uncertainty about the line-up, none of the Wallabies are presumptuous enough to take Fiji for granted after the Pacific Islanders beat the Australians the last time they met at the 2023 World Cup.

That marked a low point in Australian rugby, with Jones quitting soon after and Schmidt being hired as the Mr Fixit.

“It was a rocky period and I’d like to think that it’s not so rocky now,” Schmidt said.

“But you survive week to week and as a coach you’re on the periphery of player thoughts and systems that are in place.

“Once the players take the field you’re very much a spectator like anyone else with a little bit of influence and that you can get a message on or manipulate something through a change in a substitution.

“To be honest, I haven’t spoken to the players too much about it at all. I think we’ve just tried to make it mostly about us. We certainly respect the Fijians … and we know that if we are inaccurate that they will punish us.”

Originally published as Wallabies announced XV to face Fiji, with star Joseph Suaalii set to return from broken jaw