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‘Cool customer’ Tom Lynagh set to follow in father’s Wallabies footsteps
By Finn Morton
Tom Lynagh will follow in the footsteps of his father on Saturday evening if the 21-year-old is called on to come off the bench against Wales. Tom is the son of former Wallabies skipper Michael Lynagh, who is arguably the best No. 10 in Australian rugby history.
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On the eve of the Wallabies’ first Test under new coach Joe Schmidt, the playing group made their way out onto the field at Allianz Stadium for their captain’s run. Lynagh was one of the 23 selected who had the luxury of walking out in a Wallabies jersey.
It’s been quite the journey to get to this point. Lynagh has long been touted as a Wallaby-in-waiting since making the move from Harlequins academy to Queensland. After another strong season based out of Ballymore, coach Schmidt rewarded the youngster.
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Lynagh was selected as one of three No. 10’s in the Wallabies’ initial squad for the July internationals. There was no room for incumbent Carter Gordon, with the coaching staff selecting the trio of Noah Lolesio, Ben Donaldson and Lynagh.
Schmidt later picked the “cool customer” to do a job on Saturday evening after naming the Queensland Reds pivot on the bench. With a little over 24 hours until kick-off at the time of writing, it’s almost time for Lynagh to forge his own legacy as a Test playmaker.
“He’s a cool customer Tom. You talk to him, he just doesn’t get ruffled. I’ve tried to ruffle him to be fair and put him under a little bit of pressure but he just doesn’t get ruffled. I love that and I think the players around him love it because what you want is that calm,” Schmidt told reporters on Thursday.
“In that real hub, pivot position, you want someone who is not going to be ruffled, who’s going to stay nice and clean and clear in their thinking and then in their delivery or whatever they’re required to do on either side of the ball.
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“I know I’ve spoken about his courage before and I don’t have any doubts about him stepping up there.
“They will bring a big, direct midfield at us. They’ll get Aaron Wainwright running off things and running down channels. Tom’s the sort of guy that, well he won’t say anything, he’ll just get on and do it. If that’s his tackle, he’ll make that tackle.
“I’ve been impressed with a number of players who are able just to stay focused on what needs to be done rather than get ruffled or distracted by things they can’t really control anyway, they can only influence what’s immediately in front of them.”
Along with Lynagh, Melbourne Rebels prop Isaac Kailea, Queenslander Angus Blyth, the Brumbies’ Charlie Cale and NSW Waratahs outside back Dylan Pietsch are also in line to debut off the bench.
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Schmidt has picked uncapped duo Jeremy Williams and Josh Flook in the starting lineup. But the biggest surprise is potentially the selection of Liam Wright as skipper, with the loose forward set to play his first Test since a draw with Argentina in 2020.
The national selectors have also thrown a bit of a curveball in the halves with Nic White omitted from the matchday 23 completely, while Reds co-captain Tate McDermott will come of the pine. Jake Gordon has been given the nod to start at halfback.
“He’s [Gordon] probably just had the sharpest of the passes of the three guys so far. He’s got that really nice long kicking game, high kicking game and those are elements that I think we can make of,” Schmidt explained.
“You can’t tell Sydney weather early in the week. We had a look and it looked like it was going to be rain but now it’s saying sunny so it’s probably going to be rain.
“We’re 48 hours out and things fluctuate a lot. What we don’t want to fluctuate is whatever does turn up, we turn up with the right sort of armoury and we felt Jake had the right armoury for us to kick the first Test off with.”
