Harry Wilson Misses Clash Against Springboks Due to Injury
The Wallabies captain, Harry Wilson, will not be available for the match against the Springboks in Cape Town due to a knee injury sustained during Australia’s 38-22 victory in the last encounter. Although Wilson’s injury doesn’t seem serious, he will miss the second match this weekend. His place will be taken by Rob Valetini, who is finally recovered after a calf injury that kept him out of much of the series against the British and Irish Lions. Valetini suffered a calf injury before the match against Fiji, as did Will Skelton. However, while Skelton was able to return in the second match against the Lions, Valetini has not been seen in the gold jersey since then. Valetini is an excellent replacement for Wilson, who scored two tries in the victory and led the team with a committed performance.With Wilson out and pillar Allan Alaalatoa also sidelined, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has been forced to select a new captain. Fraser McReight has been chosen in place of former captain Will Skelton. Schmidt has also given Corey Toole the opportunity to debut, after Dylan Pietsch suffered a fractured jaw. Toole joined the Wallabies squad in 2024, but was never called up for an official match. The coaches wanted him to improve his defense and high ball skills. He returned to the Brumbies and demonstrated his attacking threat thanks to his speed.Losing Harry is not ideal. Rob has played 40 minutes for us this season. It’s good to have Rob back and I’m sure he will perform very well.
Joe Schmidt
In another change, Schmidt has called up Tom Robertson in the first line, as James Slipper is out with a concussion. Meanwhile, Angus Bell has maintained his position on the bench after his outstanding performance last week. Schmidt has named a relatively unchanged bench, with Nick Champion de Cespigny returning to replace Langi Gleeson. The Wallabies haven’t won a match in Cape Town in 33 years, losing the last seven matches at that stadium. Schmidt doesn’t think his team needs history to motivate them.Corey is a great guy. Obviously, he comes from the rugby 7s program, something that several South African sprinters have also done. He is adapting well to the game and this will be a great learning curve for him.
Joe Schmidt
Australia: Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Corey Toole, James O’Connor, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Tom Hooper, Will Skelton, Nick Frost, Taniela Tupou, Billy Pollard, Tom Robertson. Replacements: Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Angus Bell, Zane Nonggorr, Jeremy Williams, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Tate McDermott, Tane Edmed, Andrew Kellaway.Not really, because if we look back, it’s good to know what has happened, but that doesn’t influence what can happen. We have to make what can happen, happen. We can’t wait. We have to start our game much better than we did last week, and we’ve thought more about that and tried to do more about it than look so far back.
Joe Schmidt
