Wallabies tap into the spirit of the 1978 Australian Schoolboys

Debutant playmakers Noah Lolesio and Irae Simone will be thrust into the maelstrom of a gripping Bledisloe contest.

Wayne Smith

4 min read

8:23PMOctober 29, 2020

Noah Lolesio comes into the Wallabies starting side for the injured James O’Connor

An evocative and deeply powerful strain of nostalgia is coursing through Australian rugby right now, one that has thrust debutant playmakers Noah Lolesio and Irae Simone into the maelstrom of a gripping Bledisloe contest at its most pivotal moment.

Not since Mark Ella debuted at 10 against the All Blacks in Sydney in 1980 alongside a man playing his first Test at 12, Michael Hawker, have the Wallabies shown the sort of daring encapsulated by the selection of the Brumbies pair for Saturday night’s Test at ANZ Stadium, in the positions the Kiwis call first and second five-eighth.

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At least Ella and Hawker had one Test between them, given that Hawker had played at five-eighth against Fiji in the warm-up to the three-Test Bledisloe series in Australia 40 years ago. But Lolesio and Simone have zero Tests between them – unlike the men they are replacing, James O’Connor and Matt To’omua, who neatly have played 54 apiece.

Not since Dick Tooth and Keith Gudsell made their debut against the All Blacks in Sydney in 1951 have two Test rookie been let loose at five-eighth and inside centre for the Wallabies.

Rugby Australia chairman Hamish McLennan has tapped into the hankering for past glories by declaring he will put an end to tinkering with the Australian uniform and set the shade of the Wallabies jersey in stone once and for all. Yet the quest for reliving those golden eras runs much deeper.

Just as the revival in Australian rugby was triggered by the 1977-78 Australian Schoolboys tour of Britain, there now is a meaningful attempt to duplicate that success with the Australian Under-20 team which a year ago came within two points of winning the Junior World Cup.

Nine Schoolboys were drip-fed into the Wallabies in the years immediately leading up to the 1984 Grand Slam triumph. Their captain, Tony Melrose, led the charge making his debut at Eden Park in 1978 against the All Blacks. Then followed, in turn, Michael O’Connor (1979), Hawker, Mark Ella and Tony D’Arcy (1980), Glen Ella, Chris Roche and Gary Ella (1982) and Dominic Vaughan (1983).

And now the Junior Wallabies class of 2019 is beginning to work its way through to the senior ranks. Backrower Harry Wilson on Thursday was named for his third Test of the series, while Lolesio – who played 12 for the Junior Wallabies last year – become the second. When Australia’s best “jackal”, Fraser McReight, the Under-20 captain, enters the fray tomorrow off the bench, he will become the third.

(Queensland halfback Tate McDermott is the fourth Australian set to make his debut tomorrow. He is another former Australian Under-20 graduate but, like outside centre Jordan Petaia, he is of the class of 2018.)

Bledisloe III Preview with Tim Horan and Andrew Mehrtens

Other 2019 Under-20s – Waratahs pair Will Harrison and Angus Bell and Rebels lock Trevor Hosea – are waiting their turn while a further 10 players are pushing their way aggressively upwards through the Super Rugby ranks.

The 23 named on Thursday clearly holds the core of Australia’s 2023 World Cup representatives but coach Dave Rennie is well aware Wallabies fans can’t wait that long.

“We certainly have an eye to the future, but it is also about winning on Saturday,” Rennie said. “We are going to get a lot better over time but you have to get results now too. We are well aware of the quality of the opposition, but it is exciting for us. There is no reason that if we go out there and play at our best we can’t get a win.”

To be fair to Rennie, Lolesio, 20, would not have been starting at five-eighth had O’Connor’s knee injury – sustained half an hour into the Eden Park Test a fortnight ago – not flared up after training on Tuesday. On Monday he was in the side and it was steady as she goes. By Tuesday, he was out.

At least it removed Rennie’s dilemma over whether to select Lolesio or Simone as a replacement for the injured Toomua. No longer was it an either-or situation. They both would play, with Nic White ensuring the three key Brumbies decision-makers would line up at 9-10-12 for the Wallabies. It means Lolesio will have to take over the goalkicking from O’Connor, unless Reece Hodge makes an early entry from the bench.

Still, with debutants in two critical positions and seven starters in all with no more than five Tests experience, was it any wonder Rennie opted for 37-Test veteran Dane Haylett-Petty over Tom Banks (8) at fullback?

Wallabies team to play New Zealand at ANZ Stadium, Sydney on Saturday 31 October, 7:45pm AEDT

1. James Slipper (98 Tests)

2. Brandon Paenga-Amosa (5 Tests)

3. Allan Alaalatoa (37 Tests)

4. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto (23 Tests)

5. Matt Philip (5 Tests)

6. Ned Hanigan (21 Tests)

7. Michael Hooper (c) (101 Tests)

8. Harry Wilson (2 Tests)

9. Nic White (33 Tests)

10. Noah Lolesio*

11. Marika Koroibete (30 Tests)