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The logistics of picking Wallabies from overseas, and particularly from France, are not easy – a point worth remembering by those who just want to blow the eligibility doors off.
Take Will Skelton, who will again be absent against Italy – a Test that is no longer a banana skin so much as a meeting of well-matched teams, with only a fraction more World Rugby rankings points currently separating England and the Wallabies than the Wallabies and Italy.
Skelton was actually playing for La Rochelle on Sunday evening, French time, due to the Top 14’s staggered scheduling – shortening his preparation time to the point that it was too limited for the Wallabies.
While the French could “protect” their preferred 23 from last weekend’s Top 14 round ahead of their Test against South Africa this weekend, that is not an avenue open to Australia.
It’s another complication for a Wallabies tour that always looked fraught with difficulties – not least the fact that public expectations of the Wallabies seemed to have raced ahead of the team’s actual status.
Perhaps we all played a part in that after the wins at Ellis Park and in the third Lions Test, but those demands needed to be recalibrated after a series of retirements, injuries and sabbaticals cut deep into the squad.
France-based Wallabies star Will Skelton.Credit: Getty Images
That said, there is still reason to think the Wallabies can rescue this tour – as well as fulfil Joe Schmidt’s desire to set up Les Kiss for the 2027 Rugby World Cup.
Carter Gordon’s selection at No.10 this weekend, on the back of no recent rugby, is a clear gift from Schmidt to Kiss – a case of getting Kiss’s man at five-eighth back in the saddle with the home World Cup in mind.
But the rest of the Wallabies team reflects nothing but respect for Italy, who have been deprived of their inspirational captain Michele Lamaro (quad injury) but otherwise look highly competitive.
This is far from a repeat of the rotated Wallabies team that Dave Rennie used against Italy in 2022, and the tour can still be revived thanks to two “presents” the Wallabies received last week.
The first was the performance against England at Twickenham, which should have concentrated minds. In truth, the Wallabies had been drifting south for the previous four Tests, but sometimes it takes an absolute stinker to get to the root causes of a fall – and the Wallabies stunk Twickenham out last weekend.
The second gift came in Chicago, where an Ireland side looked very vulnerable against the All Blacks and almost entirely lacking in the intelligent attacking shape for which they have become synonymous.
As a result, there has been plenty of half-glass-full or half-glass-empty hypothesising in Ireland this week, but for those who have followed their fortunes for decades, there was a distinct lack of athletic X-factor in Chicago – a trait once ubiquitous in Ireland’s leaner years.
The Wallabies must therefore target the Irish Test as their big tour scalp, and the absence of both Skelton and Len Ikitau against Italy in Udine suggests that is exactly what they are doing.
Carter Gordon will be the sixth player to wear the No.10 jersey for the Wallabies this year.Credit: Getty Images
Joe Schmidt has also left the door open for James O’Connor to appear in Dublin, buttressing the argument that the Wallabies are tooling up for a crack at Ireland that would help erase the Twickenham performance.
Two weeks can be a long time in rugby, but this is the window in which the Wallabies can rescue their campaign before the final Test against France, which will be brutally difficult.
So much now rests on Gordon’s return to the No.10 jersey. He is the sixth player to wear the No.10 shirt for the Wallabies this year – seven if you count Hamish Stewart’s cameo in London.
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Some of those changes were unavoidable, but the selection turnstile has to stop at some point. It is an awful shame that Gordon and Tom Lynagh have ended up at the same Super Rugby club when both need to be running a team each week, but that negative can be outweighed by a positive if Gordon can restart his Wallabies career after the shattering disappointment of 2023.
His point of difference is a big body and an appetite for contact that is not shared by the other Wallabies contenders. To my mind, that gives him an advantage and should buy him some patience when – and not if – his performance in Italy is imperfect.
The Wallabies are in a slump, but they can still win back this tour.
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