Joe Schmidt refuses to complain about the Wallabies being placed at “unfair” odds for the Twickenham Test against England, despite being deprived of the chance to feature some of their top players.
Australia coach Schmidt on Thursday named a squad without overseas star players such as John Eales Medal winner Len Ikitau as the match falls outside of World Rugby’s three-week international window.
At the same time, England will field a full-strength squad on Saturday thanks to an agreement struck between the RFU governing body and the domestic league, the Premiership.
Exeter’s Ikitau and Tom Hooper, as well as Leicester’s James O’Connor, were unable to play for Australia in a bizarre situation, but all four of their Premiership club-mates are in England’s 23 squad, and critics say the match should not be seen as an “official” test with World Rugby’s crucial ranking points at stake.
Former Wales international and British & Irish Lions star Dan Biggar, writing in the Daily Mail, called the match a “slightly devalued” test, adding: “I don’t understand why this match is still contributing ranking points.
“So it would affect the draw for the 2027 World Cup… It just doesn’t make sense to me.”
But the acerbic Schmidt dismissed the concerns in Thursday’s team announcement, saying: “We always try to give preferential treatment to home-based players anyway.”
“It’s not really a distraction for us. It’s an opportunity. I just knew it was going to happen already, so it’s not a distraction or a frustration.
“Often you’ll be dealt a set of cards, and you might shuffle the deck a little, or try to steal cards from elsewhere, but if those cards aren’t available, you’ll shuffle what you have and try to come up with the best hand.
“And we feel we have what it takes to challenge England. But we know how good they are and that might not be enough, but we’re definitely going to give it a shot.”
Asked whether Rugby Australia could have paid to release a player, Schmidt added: “No, I don’t think it could. Premiership clubs are paid by the Rugby Football Union, but there are boundaries around allowing foreign players to play. It wasn’t about paying to release someone.”
Still, he couldn’t resist a gentle rebuttal to England’s Steve Borthwick. He suggested Australia had an advantage despite only having four months of training with the players.
“We actually had two sessions,” Schmidt smiled.
“We just came from Japan, where we made 13 changes. In terms of cohesion and fatigue, we played 15 Test matches over 22 weeks in nine countries and 10 different time zones. So, to be honest, I would have traded that for four training sessions!”
Tyne Edmed will once again take over the Wallabies’ playmaking reins pending the return of Carter Gordon. Schmidt said Gordon, an NRL returner who had been subject to injury concerns, had trained well on Thursday and had successfully “reintegrated” into the squad and would be available for the tests in Italy, Ireland and France.
However, after a hard-fought victory against Japan dominated by second-team players, Schmidt regained most of his great weapons.
Tighthead prop Taniela Tupou returns to the starting XI, with captain Harry Wilson once again playing number eight in a strong back-row alongside Rob Valetini and Fraser McCreight.
Waratahs team-mates Jake Gordon and Edmed will start in the halves for the third successive Test, with Josef-Auxo Souaalii and Max Jorgensen, who won last year’s game against Twickenham, in the backline.
Wallabies team plays against England
Andrew Kellaway, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Okuso Suaari, Hunter Paisami, Harry Potter, Tine Edmed, Jake Gordon. Harry Wilson, Fraser McCreight, Rob Valetini, Jeremy Williams, Nick Frost, Taniela Tupou, Billy Pollard, Angus Bell
Substitutes: Josh Nassar, Tom Robertson, Alan Araratoa, Lucan Salakaia-Lotto, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Ryan Lonergan, Hamish Stewart, Philippe Daugunu.