Ryan Lonergan was among the standouts for the ACT Brumbies in 2025, helping the team reach another Super Rugby Pacific semi-final – with the halfback considered “incredibly unlucky” to miss Wallabies selection ahead of the Fiji Test on July 6.
Lonergan has been knocking at the door for national selection for quite some time now, having started for Australia A against England A on November 17 and against Portugal ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
After another strong season at Super Rugby level with the Brumbies, which included a match-winning penalty to sink the Blues at Auckland’s Eden Park, Lonergan seemed to be in with a chance of making Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies squad.
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Lonergan started 13 of 15 appearances for the Brumbies, which ended up with a 70-minute shift in a valiant loss to the Chiefs in Hamilton. But instead, coach Schmidt has stuck with the trio who lined up for Australia in 2024.
Tate McDermott has mad the grade after an impressive season with the Queensland Reds, and Jake Gordon has been selected amid reporters the NSW Waratahs skipper could be named the new Wallabies captain. The third halfback picked ahead of Lonergan was Nic White.
Stan Sport host Michael Atkinson believes Lonergan was “incredibly unlucky” not to make the 36-player squad, with the halfback instead called into the wider training squad while White and other Western Force players prepare to face the British & Irish Lions on June 28.
“I think this speaks to the bar has been lifted, the level has been raised for Super Rugby Pacific and the competitiveness for positions,” former Wallaby Justin Harrison said on Stan Sport’s Rugby Heaven.
“This is one position across all of the provinces that has been one of the most competitive.
“They’ve all got different skill sets and different attributes. Tate, Nic, very different players to Gordon as to Lonergan.
“What I think Ryan Lonergan is now going to do is he’s going to be laser focused on his performance for the Brumbies. He’s going to be laser focused on that, and he’s going to be laser focused on maybe getting a gig in that AUNZ game as a name.
“It’s not over for him… he’d be enormously disappointed but he’s professional enough now to move on to it and I tell you what, the three halfbacks that are in that squad, such a good position… they know that Ryan Lonergan is ready to go as soon as they move left or right of where they should be.”
The other headline-grabbing omission from the Wallabies squad was the absence of Crusaders playmaker James O’Connor, who skyrocketed back into the for national selection after an impressive season with the Christchurch-based side.
Noah Lolesio’s spot in the Wallabies was under some doubt after the playmaker signed a one-year deal in Japan, with the player option of a second, but the Brumby has been selected alongside Tom Lynagh and Ben Donaldson.
While O’Connor could still face the Lions if selected to play for Les Kiss’ AUNZ Invitational XV on July 12 – the first time since the late 1980s Australia and New Zaland will combine forces on the rugby field – former Wallaby Tim Horan explained why one of the other three are more likely.
“I was surprised not to see his name in there but you can’t fit everyone into the squad,” Horan discussed.
“I don’t think [so], he might be on the bench for that game, certainly,” he added. “I’d give him a go but you’ve got three 10s here, you’ve got Ben Donaldson, Noah Lolesio, Tom Lynagh. At some stage, your third string 10, would play in that game, Australia-New Zealand game in Adelade.
“Otherwise someone like a Ben Donaldson, he’s not going to play for the Western Force next week then you put him in cottonwool, he’s got to get some game time.”
