It’s a fairly exclusive club of Queenslanders who have been chosen to face the British & Irish Lions – and now coach Les Kiss is waiting to find out which Wallabies will be made available to join that group on July 2.
While the Lions are currently preparing for their clash with Argentina in a couple of days, the four Australian Super Rugby clubs are working ahead of their historic matches in the coming weeks, which gets underway when the Western Force host the Lions on June 28.
This is all building towards the highly anticipated Lions Series between the touring side and Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies, with the Australian squad of up to 40 players set to be unveiled on Thursday afternoon in Sydney.
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto was namedropped at a Reds press conference this week, and so too was Seru Uru. Salakaia-Loto was a regular in the matchday 23 for the Wallabies in 2024, but the second-rower hasn’t played for the Reds since round 13.
While this match looms as a potential opportunity for players to get some valuable game time against the Lions before donning Wallaby gold, Kiss clarified when a decision on the availability of Test players is expected.
“We’ve had a Wallabies hub earlier in the week, Monday and Tuesday. We’ve had long discussions with all the players that were involved and those decisions with be made over the next 24 hours in terms of who will be available for the Wallabies and their squad,” Kiss told reporters this week.
“Some of those players may come back as well. We’ll probably work into that early next week, probably by Wednesday, we’ll have really good clarity next week. We’ll have a good understanding about the bulk of our side, probably by Friday.
“… If they are in a bigger squad, there is chances that some of those guys can come back as well but we probably won’t know that until probably I’d say early next week.”
For the first time in 12 years, the Lions will head to Australia’s shores in only a few days, starting their tour against the Force at Perth’s Optus Stadium. Andy Farrell’s side will then head to Brisbane, taking on Kiss’ Reds at Suncorp Stadium.
The NSW Waratahs and ACT Brumbies will then host matches, before Kiss coaches against the Lions for a second time in a matter of weeks, taking charge of the AUNZ Invitational XV for their matches at Adelaide Oval on July 12.
But Kiss, who has also been announced as Schmidt’s successor in the Wallabies’ top job from mid-2026, is firmly focused on the challenge that lies ahead with Queensland. 12 months ago, the Reds were preparing to face Wales – losing in dramatic circumstances 36-35.
“Last year we had a Wales match to head into, now we’ve got the British & Irish Lions which doesn’t get any better. Excitement is high, that’s for sure,” Kiss explained.
“We’ll work through that over the next week in terms of selection and people are really, really excited in the place to see what’s in store for us.
“It’s special, without a doubt. Talking with the other coaches, the coaching team, or actually all the staff in our professional department, it’s a one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, without a doubt.
“When you look through the history of the Reds versus the British & Irish Lions, there’s probably been probably 130, 140 players only that have represented the jersey against the British & Irish Lions. It’s a unique and a special group of people who have the opportunity to do that as a player, but from a staffing perspective, and the management, we’re excited as well.
“It ranks up there as one of the great occasions.”
