Joe Schmidt explains decision to start Noah Lolesio as Wallabies’ No.10

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has explained the decision to give Noah Lolesio another opportunity to wear the No. 10 jersey on Saturday afternoon in Brisbane as opposed to Queenslander Tom Lynagh or utility Ben Donaldson.

Lolesio, 24, will partner NSW Waratahs captain Jake Gordon in the halves for the third time this year. The pair started both matches against Warren Gatland’s Wales in Sydney and Melbourne before mass changes were made for the Georgia Test.

Fans on Twitter/X were quite critical of Lolesio after those wins over Wales, and other supporters expressed their strong opinions after Donaldson’s performance against Georgia at Sydney’s Allianz Stadium last month.

Schmidt said after that 40-29 that the coaching staff would “definitely” need to go away and “think about” their options at flyhalf moving forward. Two days out from their Rugby Championship opener against South Africa, the coaches have made their call.

Lolesio will steer the Wallabies’ ship around the park in attack as their chief playmaker, while young gun Lynagh is in line for his second Test appearance after being named on the bench. Donaldson drops out of the 23 completely as the coach discussed.

“I think most teams have a 10 on the bench, maybe not a specialist per se but Noah’s had the most time in the saddle for us through training and through those first two Welsh Tests so he’s got that opportunity,” Joe Schmidt told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.

“We lost Tom for maybe a week and a half with a hamstring injury, he’s back to 100 per cent but he had to get through this week’s training so there was a little bit of uncertainty there.

“Ben Donaldson, he’s working really hard on his game and we’re trying to help him make sure that some of the things that he’s actually really good at get delivered consistently. He just didn’t get a good start in the Georgia game and then things didn’t flow for him.

“We just want to make sure that next time he goes in, he’s right up to speed and confident because he’s got a really good skillset.”

Other big selection talking points for Australia include a debut for Western Force flanker Carlo Tizzano in the No. 7 jumper. ACT Brumbies enforcer Luke Reimer is also in line to play at Test level for the first time off the bench.

Test veteran Marika Koroibete and Paris 2024 Olympian Corey Toole have both been left out of the matchday 23 after being called into the squad for the first time this year. Nick Frost also comes into the run-ons side as a middle row partner for Lukhan Salakaia-Loto.

But the absence of Taniela Tupou is a massive blow for the Wallabies before taking on a highly physical Springboks pack, and it wasn’t a surprise to hear it brought up at Thursday’s press conference in Brisbane’s CBD.

Tupou will miss the Test for personal reasons. Instead, Queensland Reds prop Zane Nonggorr will look to provide impact off the bench, and captain Allan Alaalatoa has been named to start in the tighthead role.

“Taniela is Taniela. He’s massively powerful. At the same time, we’ve got to be able to build depth,” Schmidt said.

“One of the things we tried to do through July, even at the risk of making 10 changes before Georgia and five changes between the Welsh Tests, is to try to grow that base.

“We’re in a very different stage of our development as compared to the Springboks and that’s always a risk, we’ve got about half as many caps and about a quarter of those belong to James Slipper.

“From that perspective, we are still going to keep trying to build and if we do lose someone, we’ve got to be able to best operate as a Wallabies squad and not be overly reliant on individual players.”