Such is the magnitude of the challenge and occasion that Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is set to ditch his no overseas-based players selection strategy for the blockbuster series against the touring British and Irish Lions.
While not picking talent from outside of Australia is not strictly a set-in-stone policy, Schmidt has made clear his preference to mostly overlook Wallabies stars playing offshore, or heading overseas.
But knowing he will need the best available players to compete with the Lions, Schmidt says the likes of Will Skelton (La Rochelle), Pete Samu (Bordeaux), Samu Kerevi (Urayasu, Japan), Marika Koroibete (Saitama, Japan) and others will all come under consideration for the three-Test showpiece.
Have rugby fans stopped caring about the URC?
“We haven’t made any hard-and-fast decisions, but we obviously used Will, Samu and Marika last year,” Schmidt said on Monday. “I’ve spoken about James [O’Connor, Crusaders]. Potentially there’s other guys like Pete Samu, who’s committed to coming back at some stage.
The Counter Ruck: the rugby newsletter from The Irish Times
Edinburgh sign Piers O’Conor on two-year deal from Connacht
Champions Cup without Munster is ‘inconceivable’, says Craig Casey ahead of important Benetton showdown
Gordon D’Arcy on tough times in rugby: I cried in private. Leaned on those I trusted. I came out the other side
“Even the guys who are going like Tom Hooper and Langi Gleeson, I do think we’ll see them back playing for the Wallabies at some stage. And so we don’t want to discount anyone because, as [Lions coach] Andy [Farrell] has done, they’ve picked a form squad.
“We would love to pick a form squad. But, as I’ve always said, if there’s anything that we think is 50-50, it’s more difficult to absorb someone in from the outside the groups that play together already.”
Schmidt revealed the Wallabies selectors would pick a squad of up to 40 players before the first Test in Brisbane on July 19th.
Schmidt declined to say if he was likely to pick his best 23-man squad for Australia’s first Test of the year against Fiji on July 6th. But he suggested his likely first-choice Wallabies would be rested from the Lions’ lead-up games against the Australian state franchises.
“We’d probably be very keen to safeguard what we perceive to be our [best] 23 or 24, 25 and then the rest of the squad for them to get the games to play against the Lions,” he said. “We don’t want to deprive someone of the opportunity of playing against the Lions if they’re not going to get the Test jersey.”
Schmidt said he was impressed with the depth of the British & Irish Lions squad and thinks the Wallabies will have to play their own game if they are to come out on top in the three-test series.
The New Zealander knows many of the 38 players named last week from his time as Ireland coach but is looking forward to the Lions taking on Argentina on June 20th to get a glimpse of others and an idea of the way Andy Farrell’s team might line up.
“I think everything’s a contest there,” Schmidt said on Monday. “Some of them I know very well having coached them, but I think some of the lesser-known ones are going to be very interesting.
“And also just to see what combinations the Lions staff are deciding to put together, because that might give us an indication of who we might face in the first test. Because there’s a lot of competition for places.”
Schmidt said he had been impressed with what he had seen of 20-year-old England flanker Henry Pollock, who was selected for the Lions after playing only 32 minutes of test rugby.
“(He) is a very, very promising player,” he said.
“Considering he was playing in the England under-20s at the start of the Six Nations and came through and ended up playing for the senior side, not many players get to do that, particularly not in the forwards.”
Schmidt oversaw a marked improvement in the Wallabies last year but said failing to beat Ireland in Dublin last November after leading 13-5 at halftime had taught them a key lesson.
“I don’t think that we can come out against the Lions and say, right, let’s try to shut the game down,” he said.
“They have power, skill, they have speed. So they can play in a number of ways and whatever way they play, we’re going to have to try to play our game.”
