Joe Schmidt unveils Wallabies squad for British and Irish Lions warm-up clash against Fiji

A conservative squad has all but ended four international careers ahead of the Lions series. Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt tackles the burning questions facing the most important Australian team in years | FULL SQUAD

After announcing his first squad of the year, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt acclaimed the theme of consistency.

It is a conservative squad by any stretch, sticking with the players he used throughout 2024, while likely ending the international careers of James O’Connor, Samu Kerevi, Bernard Foley and Marika Koroibete – all of who he’d been talking to about possible selection in recent weeks before deciding not to pick them.

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As forecast, there is no captain yet of this 36-man squad for the match against Fiji on July 6. Schmidt wants multiple leaders in his team, but it is a glaring hole that is unlikely to ever repeat when the All Blacks or Springboks name a squad, particularly with a Lions series approaching.

Schmidt has a number of burning questions to deal with as he prepares for potentially the best Lions squad ever assembled – the current world rankings suggest it is.

These are his answers to those issues:

NO O’CONNOR, KEREVI

Despite calls for the experienced duo to be called in, Schmidt is sticking with the three playmakers he used throughout last year; Noah Lolesio, Ben Donaldson and Tom Lynagh.

“I spoke to James today, he just finished training, he’s got a big game coming up this Saturday, obviously (the Super Rugby final with the Crusaders),” Schmidt said.

“His experience, his skill set, a little bit of versatility I’ve talked about before in that 10-12 channel. All those things were positive. There are other guys that have been ongoing conversations.

James O'Connor will play for the Crusaders in the Super Rugby final, but was left out of the Wallabies squad. Picture: Getty Images

“The likes of Bernard Foley and Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete. They’re all not just quality players, but quality contributors to an environment.

“I’ve said it before about player coaching. I’ve seen player-to-player coaching as an incredibly powerful way to prepare players to play with the experience they bring.

Samu Kerevi’s Wallabies career is all but over after his Fiji snubbing. Picture: Getty Images

“At the same time, we’ve invested in three guys in that 10 spot. We felt trying to balance things up, we’re going to keep investing in those guys.

“What I like about those players is they were investing in themselves really well in our environment last year. I think we saw all three of them make improvements to their game, increase their own confidence to drive the game and to communicate the game to other players. We didn’t want to interrupt that.

“I’m not saying we got it right, I’m just saying that’s what we chose to do.”

THE CAPTAINCY

While Harry Wilson is the incumbent, Schmidt chose not to announce him as the skipper. Either he is weighing up whether Wilson will be in his starting XV, or thinks it may be too big of a responsibility for him as he has only recently returned from injury.

“Some of the guys who led for us last year have got niggles or are coming back from injury and are only just back on deck,” Schmidt said.

“Do we want them to shoulder the responsibility of leadership or just focus on their own game and get as much of what they can deliver right in what they’re doing? Or do we want them to lead the team and slightly dilute their own focus on their own game?

Harry Wilson is the incumbent Wallabies skipper. Picture: Getty Images

“That’s the balance that we’ll even talk to them about, to be honest, because it’s a small group of guys who’ve led the team in the past. We’ll talk to them about how best we take that forward over the next four Test matches.

“I think captain is an incredibly important leader, and visibly he’s a leader, but one of the strengths that started to develop last year, I felt, was the leadership within the team, not just having one person as the hub for making decisions. That’s never in reality the case anyway.”

Schmidt said he would consider Jake Gordon and Allan Alaalatoa for the role, given they are in leadership roles at their franchises.

Gordon said he’s had no conversations about captaining the side against the Lions despite strong speculation.

“I’ve heard nothing, I think at the moment, Harry did a really good job last year, the discussion sort of came from nowhere,” Gordon said.

“If you look at our team, there’s numerous amounts of guys who have leadership qualities and a lot of guys who have captained their state teams and internationally. But I think the captaincy chat was all made up.”

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt and Jake Gordon. Picture: Getty Images for ARU

Alaalatoa would welcome the role, but has a similar belief to Schmidt.

“It’s always an honour to represent your country, but then to lead your country - what we do know within the squad last year and this year is that there’s a lot of great leaders in the team, men who have led their Super Rugby teams, but also men who have had that experience from overseas,” Alaalatoa said.

“Guys like Willy (Skelton), experience like Slips (James Slipper) and Whitie (Nic White), who aren’t the captain of their Super Rugby teams, but are great leaders within the team.

Allan Alaalatoa would love to captain the Wallabies. Picture: Getty Images for ARU

“From my experience in being a captain for the Brumbies, I just know how important the contribution of the whole leadership group is.

“I know that whoever wears the armband will do a great job, but it’s more so the contribution of all the leaders is going to determine where this team goes. I’m probably more leaning towards making sure that we get the most out of all the leaders who are involved to steer us in the right direction.”

TANIELA TUPOU

The $1.2 million man had a shockingly inconsistent season with the Waratahs, and conceded midseason that he wasn’t sure if he should still be playing rugby, let alone the Lions series.

Schmidt needs to get Tupou in the right headspace in a short space of time.

“We’re going to try to ascertain what Taniela’s mindset is once he’s in the environment,” Schmidt said.

“I’ve had a good couple of conversations with Nella in the last week or so.

“We’re confident that he’s desperate to be there. He is desperate to be there and beyond that, he’s desperate to play well. So that’s a good starting point.”

Taniela Tupou was inconsistent for the Waratahs, but could be crucial for the Wallabies. PIcture: Getty Images

NICK CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY

The Western Force backrower has been named as one of just two non-capped players in the squad, alongside winger Corey Toole.

“Nick’s point of difference is his versatility,” Schmidt said.

“He plays 6-7-8, so having that across a backrow is important. I think his ability to stop ball carriers in their tracks is impressive.

“He’s a pretty accurate lineout target as well. He’s got a good fast jump.

“The feedback we got from the Force all year is that he was a real galvaniser of action for them. A real glue in their squad.

“So they’re all attributes we’re looking for with the Wallabies.”

Nick champion de Crespigny’s versatility paved his way to the Wallabies squad. Picture: Getty Images

LUKHAN SALAKAIA-LOTO, SERU URU AND BRANDON PAENGA-AMOSA

The trio are on the comeback from injuries, but while others in the same boat like Matt Faessler, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Max Jorgensen are in the squad, these three must make their Lions claims in the franchise games against the Lions for Queensland and the Force.

“It’s a 36-man squad, but there’s a lot of interest from us in how those players perform for their Super club against the Lions,” Schmidt said.

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is one of several overlooked Wallabies on the comeback from injury. Picture: Getty Images

“Certainly, with guys like Lukhan who was in our squad throughout the season, there’s a lot of interest in how he goes, how BPA goes. Seru Uru probably got a little less time with us, but another guy would be Josh Canham, as a guy who finished the season with us and got in the squad to play in the TRC as well.

“Those guys are still very much in our thinking.

“It’s just that in the current short term, we felt that it was really important to make a few decisions and to give a little bit of clarity to players, but also to tell them that that clarity is probably conditional on performance as well.”

Originally published as Joe Schmidt unveils Wallabies squad for British and Irish Lions warm-up clash against Fiji