Liam Wright has been named the Wallabies skipper.Credit: Getty Images for ARU
The collective Test tally for the Wallabies side is 490 caps, but Slipper’s 135 Test caps mitigates the inexperience levels.
As he starts the work of unearthing his best side, Schmidt flagged last month there would be experimentation with the Wallabies teams – and captaincy changes – in July, but there will still be some raised eyebrows, with players like Nick Frost, Ben Donaldson, Harry Wilson and Tom Hooper all in the current squad.
Josh Flook passes the ball at training.Credit: Getty Images
Wright’s captaincy is tied to a call to start Allan Alaalatoa and Tate McDermott on the bench, with the former still considered a front-runner for the role. Wright, who played all of his five Tests off the bench in 2019, will be the seventh Wallabies captain named in little more than 12 months.
The expected returns of injured troops such as Angus Bell, Dave Porecki and Rob Leota will strengthen the side. Along with Will Skelton and Marika Koroibete as Giteau Law selections, they will bolster the team’s experience in August for the Rugby Championship.
But the decision to leave out Darcy Swain, and to overlook departing players Mark Nawaqanitawase, Carter Gordon, Izzy Perese and Lachie Swinton, has left the team looking very inexperienced for this month’s Tests.
Ben Thomas will play five-eighth for Wales for the first time in three years and Josh Hathaway will make his debut on the wing after Warren Gatland overhauled his team for the first Test against Australia.
Wales, beaten 41-13 by world champions South Africa at Twickenham two weeks ago, thrashed the Wallabies 40-6 at last year’s World Cup – but only three starters from that clash in Lyon will back up at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
Thomas – an inside centre at club level – will play outside his Cardiff teammate Ellis Bevan, the halfback who made his debut against the Springboks.
Wales coach Warren Gatland has made changes to his team to meet Australia.Credit: Getty
Hathaway gets his chance on the right wing with Liam Williams moving to fullback and Aaron Wainwright making his 50th appearance for Wales at No.8.
Hooker Dewi Lake will again captain the side from the front row alongside Sydney-born prop Archie Griffin, who gets his first Test start at tighthead in place of the injured Keiron Assiratti.
Gatland has chosen a new second row in Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza, while Tommy Reffell returns at openside flanker for James Botham after missing the South Africa loss through injury.
Wallaroos coach Jo Yapp has named four debutants for the side’s Test match against Fijiana at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
ACT Brumbies trio Biola Dawa, Allana Sikimeti and Lydia Kavoa join Natalie Wright as new players in line to make their Wallaroos debuts.
The Wallaroos are playing in a double-header event with the Wallabies, kicking off at 4.30pm.
Wallaroos side to take on Fiji, Allianz Stadium, 4.30pm
Wallaroos: Brianna Hoy, Tania Naden, Eva Karpani, Kaitlan Leaney, Michaela Leonard (capt), Atasi Lafai, Leilani Nathan, Piper Duck, Layne Morgan, Arabella McKenzie, Desiree Miller, Cecilia Smith, Georgina Friedrichs, Biola Dawa, Lori Cramer. Res: Tiarna Molloy, Allana Sikimeti, Bridie O’Gorman, Siokapesi Palu, Lydia Kavoa, Natalie Wright, Trilleen Pomare, Faitala Moleka.
Meanwhile, Australia’s sevens coaches expressed quiet confidence ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games after naming their squads for Paris.
Australian women’s sevens coach Tim Walsh, who steered the team to gold in 2016, said his star-laden team, captained by Charlotte Caslick, was content with being one of the favourites, along with New Zealand.
Since bombing out of the Tokyo Olympics, the Aussie women’s side has won two world sevens series, a sevens World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.
Australian sevens stars Charlotte Caslick and Sharni Smale, who are both going to a third Olympic Games.Credit: Dion Georgopoulos
“We are always talking about the windscreen is bigger than the rear-vision mirror for a reason, so we can learn from the past and take things forward,” Walsh said.
“But this is a different team [to 2016 and 2021]. If you are expected to win, it means you have been winning and that’s what we try and do. I couldn’t be prouder of the way the group has prepared. We have got some good results over the last few years. It certainly gives you an instilled confidence you know how to win.”
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Coach John Manenti said he was happy for his men’s team to go to Paris more under the radar, despite the big strides the side has also taken since Tokyo. They won the world series title in 2022.
“Aussie teams always perform well with the underdog tag and if people want to not consider us, that’d be great, especially if the opposition want to do it, that’d be great,” Manenti said.
with AAP
Watch every July International Test Rugby match ad-free, live and on demand on Stan Sport with All Blacks v England (Saturday 4:00pm AEST), Wallaroos v Fijiana (Saturday 4:30pm AEST), Japan v Maori All Blacks (Saturday 6:50pm AEST), Wallabies v Wales (Saturday 7:00pm AEST), South Africa v Ireland (Sunday 12:00am AEST) and Argentina v France (Sunday 4:50am AEST).