The AUNZ Invitational XV team, which will face the British and Irish Lions at the Adelaide Oval on July 12, adds three outstanding Wallabies players to its ranks: Marika Koroibete, Pete Samu, and Brandon Paenga-Amosa.
Quality Reinforcements for the AUNZ Invitational XV
Koroibete, recognized as Australia’s best player in 2019 and 2022 with the John Eales Medal award, joins the team alongside flanker Pete Samu and hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa.
Koroibete, 32, has been playing for the Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan for the last four years. He is a dual-code international player who has played 63 matches and scored 20 tries for Australia.
Samu, 33 years old, has played in 33 matches for the Wallabies and returns to Australia after winning the European Rugby Champions Cup with the French team Bordeaux Begles. Previously, he played over 100 Super Rugby matches for the Crusaders and the Brumbies, and recently signed a two-year contract with the Waratahs.
Paenga-Amosa, 29, has played 20 matches for the Wallabies, won the French Top 14 title with Montpellier in 2022, and returned to Australia to play for the Western Force this season.
The first Australians to be added to Les Kiss’s team follow six New Zealand players who were introduced earlier in the week, led by All Blacks David Havili and Ngani Laumape.
Havili was one of the controversial omissions from All Blacks coach Scott Robertson’s team, and is set to bring class to the All Blacks’ midfield.
The other four New Zealand players announced are Folau Fakatava, Josh Fusitu’a, Shannon Frizell, and Shaun Stevenson.
The AUNZ team will meet in Adelaide this weekend to begin preparations for the match.
The inclusion of Samu will catapult him back into consideration for a Wallabies call-up after a successful two-season stint in France. The versatile back-rower was a mainstay of the Brumbies pack after his time with the Crusaders, and established himself as a regular in tests under successive Australia coaches Michael Cheika, Dave Rennie and Eddie Jones.
Koroibete played a test with the Wallabies last year, in Bledisloe I in Sydney, before suffering an arm injury. Given that Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has many options in the outside backs, and his preference is to choose from players playing in Australia, Koroibete faces a more difficult challenge to get into the test team this season.
