Kerevi Returns to the Wallabies: Schmidt Prepares the Team for the Test

Joe Schmidt Reveals Wallabies Preliminary Squad: Who Will Be in the Fight?

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt is in the process of defining his provisional squad, which will feature approximately 40 players. Anticipation grows as speculation mounts regarding the inclusion of players who play or will play abroad. Schmidt’s group will begin their preparation for the test against Fiji on July 6. Subsequently, the coach will reduce the list for the expected series against the British & Irish Lions. Selected players from Western Force and NSW Waratahs have been training at Wallabies “hubs” since the Super Rugby Pacific season concluded two weeks ago. The Queensland Reds joined the preparation on Monday, after being eliminated from the playoffs in the first week of the finals. The Brumbies players, who were defeated in the semi-finals by the Chiefs, will complete their recovery in Canberra and enjoy some downtime before Schmidt reunites the entire group in Sydney on Sunday. It appears that veteran center Samu Kerevi could be one of them, as the 31-year-old player was seen at the Reds’ center in Ballymore. Kerevi recently finished his season in Japan’s League 1 with Urayasu D-Rocks, helping his team secure their place in the first division for 2026 by scoring doubles in both matches of their “Replacement Battle” against Toyota Industries Shuttles. Kerevi finished the League 1 season with 14 tries in 16 matches, suggesting he still has much to offer the Wallabies, despite his recent test appearance, in which he received a red card for head contact when Australia beat Wales in Cardiff last year.

There’s no news yet on Will Skelton, who plays in France, as the Wallabies captain at the 2023 Rugby World Cup is enjoying some time off after his Top 14 season ended just over a week ago. La Rochelle, from Skelton, needed at least a bonus point for a defeat in their last regular season match, but was defeated 32-18 by Pau, which marked the end of a disappointing campaign for the team of former European champion Ronan O’Gara. However, the positive side for Schmidt and the Wallabies is that Skelton would not have to play more than three Top 14 matches and would be available to join the Australia camp from the beginning, if he is part of the plans.

This is not the case for Pete Samu, who returns to the Wallabies, whose Bordeau-Begles receives Toulon in a Top 14 semi-final this weekend. Samu seeks to complete a rare Top 14-European double with Bordeaux, after the French team won the Champions Cup last month.

Although Samu may be omitted from the group that Schmidt names this week, he could enter the calculations for the combined AUNZ team that will face the Lions a week before the first test with the Wallabies. The match in Adelaide will be played two weeks after the Top 14 final, so if Bordeaux advances to the final, Samu could return to Australia and prepare for that clash.

The third line, who will join the Waratahs, would help to add interest to a match that is rapidly losing appeal, with the confirmation that Richie Mo’unga has withdrawn from the selection.

Mo’unga led his team, Toshiba Brave Lupus, to win the Japan One League consecutively, despite playing the final with a broken hand. But the news of the injury after his team’s victory over Kubota Spears seriously jeopardized his participation in the AUNZ team. Mo’unga’s withdrawal was confirmed by his manager on Monday, as first reported by the Sydney Morning Herald, and AUNZ coach Les Kiss and his New Zealand assistant, Ian Foster, will have to do without the playmaker who this match had flagged as its main attraction. Kiss and Schmidt have recently indicated that players from the wider Wallabies squad would fill a significant number of positions in the AUNZ squad, and New Zealand’s participation could be limited to players like Shannon Frizell and TJ Perenara, former All Blacks. It remains to be seen where the departing players Noah Lolesio, Tom Hooper and Langi Gleeson will end up, although the form of the trio, and Schmidt’s comments throughout much of the year, suggest that they will at least be part of the squad this week. However, Lolesio suffered a head knock in the Brumbies’ defeat against the Chiefs at the weekend, but with the test against Fiji in three weeks, he could be available to play according to concussion protocols, provided there are no persistent effects from the knock.