Marika Koroibete leads the Wallabies trio, which was added to the Aunz Invitational XV team on July 12th.
The powerful winger, who won the John Eels Medal as Australia’s best player in 2019 and 2022, was added to the team along with backrower Pete Sam and hooker Brandon Penga Amosa.
The 32-year-old Kolibete has played for the Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan for the past four years. He is a dual code international that played 63 tests and recorded 20 attempts in Australia.
Sam, 33, has played 33 games for the Wallabies and is back in Australia after winning the European Rugby Champions Cup with the French side Bordeaux Begules. He played over 100 Super Rugby games for the Crusades and Brunby and recently signed a two-year contract with Waratah.
The 29-year-old Paenga-Amosa has performed 20 Tests with the Wallabies, winning the French top 14 titles with Montpellier in 2022, returning to Australia to play for the Western Army this season. He beat 54-7 on the Force Side as the Lions played their first game in Australia on this tour.
The first Australian was added to the Leskis team, following six New Zealanders announced earlier in the week, and found All Blacks David Havili and Ngani Raumape.
Habilli was one of the controversial omissions for All Blacks coach Scott Robertson’s team to face France, set to add a touch of class to the All Blacks midfield, the All Blacks skipper.
The other four New Zealand players to be announced are Folau Fakatava, Josh Fusitu’a, Shannon Frizell and Shaun Stevenson.
Aunz Squad will meet in Adelaide this weekend to begin preparing fixtures.
Meanwhile, Sam’s inclusion returns him to the Rocket for Wallabies’ appeal after a successful two season stint in France. The versatile backlower was a flagship player for the Brunby Forward Pack following his switch from the Crusades, establishing himself as a regular under Australia’s past coaches, Michael Chaika, Dave Renee and Eddie Jones.
Coroybete had one Wallabies test at Sydney’s Bladisrow I last year and suffered an arm injury. The Coroy Betes face a tougher challenge this season to crack test teams, as Wallaby coach Joe Schmidt has flushed out options on his outside back, his preference is to choose from Australia-based players.
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