Joe Schmidt eager to 'kickstart' Darby Lancaster’s Wallabies career

With a smile, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt described Darby Lancaster quite simply as a “fast” player ahead of the winger’s international 15s debut against Georgia on Saturday afternoon.

Lancaster, 21, told RugbyPass in March 2023 that at 16 years of age, he thought “my career was over.” While playing rugby in Sydney’s prestigious GPS high school competition for The Scots College, the youngster from Kempsey tore his ACL.

But after 15 months on the sidelines, Lancaster returned to the rugby field and was offered a full-time deal with the Australian sevens programme quite quickly. Lancaster had a rapid rise to stardom on the SVNS Series before signing with the Melbourne Rebels last year.

Coach Kevin Foote handed Lancaster a debut in Super Rugby Pacific in the round six win over the Waratahs in Sydney. The speedster went on to start another eight matches that season, which included a hat-trick against the Highlanders in just his third appearance.

Lancaster’s standout performances with the Australian sevens team, the Junior Wallabies and Melbourne Rebels had the Australian rugby public talking. But this weekend, the No. 11 will look to take the next step after being named to debut in Wallaby gold.

“He’s fast. He’s very quick, he’s enthusiastic. He’s a young player that is at the start of his career and we want to try to kickstart the career,” Joe Schmid told reporters on Thursday.

“The only way you can try to kickstart a career is to put them in the cauldron and best prepare them (and) see how they measure up.”

Lancaster replaces Andrew Kellaway on the left wing, with Wallabies selectors making 10 changes to the starting side that beat Wales in Melbourne last time out. There are only three backs who have held onto their spots.

The coaching staff have had to try and find the “impossible balance” between building the depth as a squad-focused team but also ensuring that the team is ready to beat a formidable opponent in Georgia.

Georgia will be full of confidence after a shock win over Eddie Jones’ Brave Blossoms in Japan last weekend, and they’ve surprised a few other ‘favourites’ in the past by either getting the better of them or pushing them close.

“It’s an impossible balance to get dead right because you’re not sure till the team goes out there that you’ve done the right thing,” Schmidt explained.

“We have huge respect for Georgia. We predict that they won’t have as many changes, anything like as many changes, and they will see an opportunity especially on the back of recent wins – Wales, Italy and last weekend against Japan.

“Even some of the other big teams where they’ve definitely been in the game for a long time.

“People just have to have faith in the changes and we’ve got faith in the changes. We do believe that we’re putting a good side out and they’ll demonstrate that, but I’m sure the Georgians will have something to say about that.”

The Wallabies’ 10 changes include an all-new tight five made up of props Isaac Kailea and captain Allan Alaalatoa, hooker Billy Pollard, and second-row pair Nick Frost and Angus Blyth.

Rob Valetini and Fraser McReight are the only forwards who are backing up in the same starting role after the win over Wales, with Queenslander Harry Wilson named in the No. 8 jumper.

Tate McDermott and Ben Donaldson will steer the ship as the halves pair, while Hunter Paisami joins Len Ikitau in the midfield. Lancaster will link up with Filipo Daugunu and Tom Wright as the outside backs trio.

“I think I said last week, I’m always worried. I don’t think that changes for me at all. I’m nervous about how things will pan out and how the game will pan out.

“We’ve got a lot of combinations in there. You’ve got Billy Pollard having his first start but Allan Alaalatoa’s right alongside him. Coming off the bench you’ve got a Reds front row so they know each other.

“We’ve tried to keep a balance of players who are comfortable playing alongside each other and I think Mike Cron is doing a really good job building our scrum.

“Then in the backline, there’s actually a lot of guys who have played together. Hunter (Paisami) and Lenny Ikitau, they’ve played together quite a lot, and Lenny is a relatively experienced Wallaby.

“On the edges, Filipo (Daugunu) has just been outstanding for us anyway. Tom Wright, he’s been fullback the whole time. I thought Ben Donaldson finished the game quite well last week. Tate (McDermott), he’s captained the Wallabies.

“Yeah I’m nervous but I don’t think there is a real nervousness in the team, I think there’s a real… an excitement. They just want to go out and they want to get into the game and start playing.”