When the first Wallabies squad of 2025 was announced on Thursday, the omission of playmaker James O’Connor captured headlines around the world. O’Connor impressed for the Crusaders this season, skyrocketing back into the Wallabies selection frame, but it wasn’t to be.
Coach Joe Schmidt has selected a 36-player group to face Fiji, with Tom Lynagh, Ben Donaldson and Noah Lolesio named. Lolesio is the incumbent in the run-on side, but there were some doubt over the playmaker’s selection chances after he signed a short-term deal in Japan.
Lolesio will spend at least one season in Japan, with the option for another. While Schmidt often overlooked overseas-based players in 2024, or those who had committed to head offshore, Lolesio did enough in Super Rugby Pacific to warrant selection.
Rassie Erasmus explains the reasoning behind Boan Venter’s Bok call-up
Langi Gleeson and Tom Hooper are another two who have been selected despite penning deals with Montpellier and Exeter respectively, and hulking lock Will Skelton was quite literally a big inclusion despite playing club rugby for French side La Rochelle.
About one hour after the Wallabies squad was announced, Schmidt spoke with reporters about the makeup of the group. Less than three minutes into the press conference, Schmidt was asked about O’Connor, who the coach had called earlier on Thursday.
“Yeah, spoke to James today. He just finished training today, he’s got a big game coming up this Saturday, obviously, and his experience, his skill set, a little bit of versatility [that] I’ve talked about before in that 10-12 channel, all of those things were positive,” Schmidt said.
“There are other guys that have been ongoing conversations, the likes of Bernard Foley and Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete. They’re all not just quality players but quality contributors to an environment.
“I’ve said it before about player-coaching. I’ve seen player-to-player coaching is an incredibly powerful way to prepare players to play with the experience they bring. At the same time, we’ve invested in three guys in that 10 spot and we felt… we’re going to keep investing in those guys.
“What I like about those players is they were investing in themselves really well in our environment last year. I think we saw all three of them make improvements to their game, increase their own confidence to drive the game and to communicate the game to other players.
“We didn’t want to interrupt that. I’m not saying we got it right, I’m just saying that’s what we chose to do.”
There are only two uncapped players in the squad, with ACT Brumbies flyer Corey Toole getting another chance in the Wallabies environment, having been included in the squad for The Rugby Championship last year after competing at the Paris Olympics in sevens.
Schmidt has also selected a genuine bolter, with Western Force backrower Nick Champion de Crespigny named after a stellar season in Super Rugby Pacific. Champion de Crespigny had spent a few years overseas in France before returning to Australia.
But, for the most part, Schmidt has selected a familiar squad to take on the Flying Fijians on July 6 at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium. Continuity paid off for the Wallabies last year, shocking England during their Spring Tour, and it’s an important factor once again.
“It was an anchoring point for us. We’d invested all that time and those guys were investing time back and I think that’s definitely part of it,” Schmidt explained.
“I don’t know globally but I felt like we were making individuals building their game and being more confident and then the collective becoming more competitive.
“We wanted continuity there, albeit we haven’t seen them since early January.”
