England selection loophole taints Wallabies clash

Schmidt made seven changes to the side thath narrowly beat Japan, unable to pick overseas-based players including reigning John Eales Medal winner Len Ikitau because the match falls outside World Rugby’s three-week international window. England, however, has been able to field a full-strength squad after an agreement was struck to allow access to players from the country’s domestic league, the Premiership. Ikitau plays for Exeter, and while he can’t play in the game, his clubmates can, which some critics believe devalues the clash. Schmidt though was unmoved and said the Wallabies tried to “favour home-based players anyway” as he played down the ruling being any sort of distraction as his team looks to replicate the stunning win over the home side in 2024. “It’s not really a distraction for us. It’s an opportunity. I just knew that was the case already, so it hasn’t been a distraction or frustration,” he said. “You often get dealt a set of cards and while you may shuffle the deck a little bit or try to steal a card from somewhere else, if those cards aren’t available, you shuffle what you’ve got and try to put out your best hand. “And we feel that we’ve got a hand that can challenge England – but we know how good they are and that might not be enough, but we’re certainly going to give it a try.” The Wallabies are coming off a series against the British and Irish Lions, the Rugby Championship and the match in Japan, which moved England coach Steve Borthwick to suggest that Australia actually had an advantage given they’d been together so long. Schmidt though pointed out the hectic schedule and constant changes due to unavailability made any sort of cohesion difficult, and he’d love more training sessions over games. “We’ve just come from Japan where we made 13 changes. Cohesion-wise, and also in terms of fatigue, we’ve had 15 Test matches across 22 weeks in nine countries and 10 different time zones,” he said. “So I’d be happy to swap that for four trainings, to be honest!” The Wallabies get back Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Fraser McReight, Allan Alaalatoa, Nick Frost and Taniela Tupou after they were rested from the win over Japan last Saturday in Tokyo. Captain against Japan, Nick Champion de Crespigny has been named on the bench, with regular skipper Harry Wilson returning to the starting side, while Tane Edmed gets his third consecutive start for the Wallabies at five-eighth. Schmidt backed Edmed to thrive in the key role. “I think if any of the people in the room had the opportunity to have a chat with Tane they’d see what a quality young man he is and how hard he’s working at his craft,” Schmidt said. “I’ve had the luxury of working with some really good 10s in my time and 10s who’ve played 100 Test matches or more, whether it be for the All Blacks or Ireland, and you don’t suddenly get that good. “You don’t turn up in your fourth Test match and start running the game like you do when you’ve had 50 Tests. You learn from experiences and that allows you to get better and getting better is never linear either. “There are going to be tough moments for Tane and we know that and there’s going to be some really good moments … he’s working really hard at trying to bring the team with him.” Wallabies: 1 Angus Bell, 2 Billy Pollard, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Jeremy Williams, 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson; 9 Jake Gordon, 10 Tane Edmed, 11 Harry Potter, 12 Hunter Paisami, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14 Max Jorgensen, 15 Andrew Kellaway. Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 21 Ryan Lonergan, 22 Hamish Stewart, 23 Filipo Daugunu.