Suaalii back in frame to start after Kerevi banned for three games

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is a strong chance to return to the Wallabies’ starting side to meet Scotland after centre Samu Kerevi was suspended for three matches for a dangerous tackle.

In a sour end to his 50th Test match, Kerevi was red carded in the second half of the Wallabies’ win over Wales for foul play on Wales flanker Jac Morgan, where the big No.12 was deemed to have made head-on-head contact.

The Wallabies on Wednesday challenged that the incident met the threshhold for a red card, which, if successful, would have meant Kerevi escaped a ban.

Australian officials argued it was similar to a tackle from All Black Jordie Barrett on Ireland’s Garry Ringrose two weeks ago, which only received a yellow card.

However, a three-person panel upheld the red card decision and handed Kerevi a mid-level suspension of six weeks, which was reduced to three weeks given mitigating factors. Kerevi will miss the Scotland Test on the Wallabies’ Spring tour and two club games in Japan, but he can remove one more game by completing World Rugby’s tackle school.

The Samu Kerevi tackle that saw him earn a red card.Credit: Getty Images

Kerevi’s absence will likely mean Suaalii returns to the midfield to partner Len Ikitau, the partnership that was so successful in the Wallabies’ win over England at Twickenham.

Australia added Hamish Stewart to the Wallabies’ squad after he recently finished with the Australia A tour, but based on the success of London – where Ikitau moved to No.12 and Suaalii played at No.13 – that partnership would be far more likely.

Suaalii came off the bench against Wales.

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend was impressed with what he saw from Suaalii at Twickenham.

“I thought some of his touches were incredible,” Townsend told Scottish media. “For your first game of union, it’s a Test match at Twickenham, and you’re able to offload lovely soft touches … He’ll take a lot of confidence from that, and I just really know they’ve got a world-class footballer already.”

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii takes on England at Twickenham.Credit: Getty Images

Townsend said the Wallabies would be a difficult prospect after climbing back from some tough times.

“They’ve improved,” he said. “Just playing in the Rugby Championship, you’re better on the back of that because you’ve got six games against three of the top teams in the world now. Argentina are obviously in the top five and South Africa and New Zealand are in the top two. So getting that experience to play each of those teams twice will make you better.

“Joe Schmidt, who’s a brilliant coach, has spent time with them now and they have some really good players. They’ve always had a big playing base. They may have gone through a little dip, but they’ve got all their squad available ... it’s going to be a very tough game.

“We know they’re sitting about the same as us in world rankings so we see it as a real challenge.”