Schmidt axes halves after Santa Fe, five Wallabies stars return for All Blacks

The veteran halfback who steered the Wallabies to their last win over the All Blacks in Sydney has been recalled for a starting role in Joe Schmidt’s first Bledisloe Cup clash on Saturday.

In a team that welcomed back a number of stars from injury, including Fraser McReight, Hunter Paisami, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Noah Lolesio and Tom Wright, reserve prop James Slipper will also get the chance to pass George Gregan as Australia’s most capped player in his 140th Test.

But the most eye-opening change has come at halfback, with 34-year-old Nic White given the No.9 jumper.

The starting halves for the Wallabies’ in the shocking 67-27 defeat in Santa Fe – Jake Gordon and Ben Donaldson – have paid the price, with both dropping out of the 23-man squad altogether.

Lolesio comes back into the no.10 after injury but White was not involved at all on the Argentina tour. Schmidt has turned back to the experience of the feisty halfback to take on the All Blacks at Accor Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said the change at halfback had come after several players had been ill in Argentina.

“Getting back from Santa Fe, that took its toll, that game, there were a few boys who were a little bit ill and a little bit run down,” Schmidt said.

“Nick hadn’t played. He was the freshest [and] we just felt that making an early decision in the week to go with Nic. He has great leadership. All the nines have great leadership.

“They’ve all, at some stage, been skipper of their Super Rugby side. Nic was a pretty good fit and a good fit with Noah. They’re both originally from the Brumbies. They’ve played a fair bit of time together. We just felt that that combination would be a good one to start us off.”

White has fond memories of Homebush, having steered the Wallabies to their last win over New Zealand in Sydney back in 2015. The Wallabies were trailing 19-17 in the 65th minute when White came off the bench and scored 10 points to claim the win, via a long-range penalty goal and a converted try.

“He’s a competitor - he competes in everything. He wants to win the warm-up. I really like Nick,” All Blacks coach Scott Robertson said of White on Thursday morning. “I just like the way he plays. He’s got a bit of grit about him. He’s a Test match footballer.”

McReight’s return has seen Carlo Tizzano drop out of the 23-man squad; unluckily so given he was yet to miss a tackle in his first four Tests as cover for McReight. But with coach Joe Schmidt looking to have size among his reserve forwards, there was no room for two openside flankers.

Donaldson also dropped out of the 23-man squad after starting in Santa Fe, with Lolesio returning after a back injury and Tom Lynagh preferred as back-up five-eighth. Schmidt has kept Tate McDermott on the bench, too, to maintain the Reds’ halves combination.

Tom Wright’s return sees Andrew Kellaway shift back to the wing, and Max Jorgensen left out of the squad. Dylan Pietsch has been named on the bench, with Jorgensen having been sick this week.

Having missed two Tests with a knee injury, Hunter Paisami passed a fitness test and will line up at no.12, meaning Hamish Stewart drops out.

On the bench, abrasive lock Lukhan Salakaia-Loto returns to add ballast.

Brandon Paenga-Amosa carrying the ball against Argentina in 2020.Credit: Getty

Stocky hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa was named on the bench for his first Test match since 2021. Paenga-Amosa featured in 14 Tests for the Wallabies before moving to France in 2021, where he played three seasons for Montpellier. The 28-year-old recently returned and signed with the Western Force for 2025.

Schmidt coached with the All Blacks last year, before joining the Wallabies. Asked whether his knowledge of the New Zealand players and tactics would be any help this week, Schmidt said: “It means you can go around in circles in your own head, which I have no problem doing without coming up against an opponent like the All Blacks and the players that I know.”

“It certainly means that you understand just the firepower that they do have, and the horsepower up front as well, so you understand what you’re coming up against,” he added.

“I’m pretty sure the Australian players know that already. This is our most regular foe, Super Rugby included, so the opposition, I think both teams know each other really well.“

Schmidt said the team had attempted to learn from the shocking second half in Santa Fe, while at the same time drawing confidence from the win a week earlier in La Plata.

“Hopefully we’ve built a little bit of confidence back, but you can’t build confidence on porous foundations,” he said.

“I think we had to get a bit of a dose of reality first and accept that we’d over-reached at times [in Santa Fe], we’d disconnected at times and we hadn’t seen things early enough to get in front of them.

“There was a little bit of reality at the start and then hopefully we get a bit of an upswing towards the end of the week and obviously on Saturday.

Watch all the action from The Rugby Championship with every match streaming ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport. Round 5 kicks off this weekend with Wallabies v All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup (Saturday 3pm AEST) and Argentina v South Africa (Sunday 6:50am AEST).