The itch that Wallaby Will Skelton wants to scratch

Will Skelton believes the Wallabies have an opportunity to restore Australian rugby to the pinnacle of the Test game, starting with Saturday’s meeting with England.

La Rochelle lock Skelton returned to the Wallabies squad for the Autumn Nations Series, having been rested for Australia’s July victories against Wales and also sat out their Rugby Championship campaign.

His last involvement came at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, where he was named captain only for injury to restrict him to one appearance as Australia crashed out at the pool stage.

That performance cost Eddie Jones his job and, despite their success against Wales, results have not been much better under his successor Joe Schmidt.

The Wallabies won just one match during the Rugby Championship and currently sit ninth in World Rugby Men’s Rankings. But Skelton insists there is cause for optimism.

“I look at it as an awesome opportunity,” he said on Tuesday. “We can really push up in the rankings and win every game that we can.

“We’ve got a Lions series next year which is an exciting prospect for Australian rugby and the guys that are involved now have set the foundations for us to be as successful as we can be and fulfil the potential that we have in this team.

“Because coming in from watching on TV you can see there’s some really good stuff there and when I came into camp you see that day in, day out. The habits, the standards that we have in training, the expectations that we have from the coaches.

“We have a world-class coaching team. That’s really filtering down to every player in the squad, so I have no doubt that this team is going to get where we want to get to and that starts with our preparation and ultimately getting wins on the board.”

Skelton admits that how the Wallabies fared at the World Cup was “tough” to take, especially as captain, but says he has been energised by watching the team from afar.

“When you’re not involved and you’re watching on TV you always have that itch, and you want to help as much as you can,” he explained.

“I’ve had an open dialogue with Joe this season and we haven’t had the results that we wanted but I feel the team’s building in the right direction and I’m happy to add where I can.”

In his first couple of days working with Schmidt and the Kiwi’s new coaching team, Skelton has been impressed with the intensity of training and insisted his desire to play for the Wallabies never wavered.

“I’ve literally been here two, three days and I can already see the attention to detail, the workrate, our collision work as well. That’s what we’re trying to pride ourselves on,” Skelton said.

“Definitely coming in you get a real feel for it and you can see how much chat there is, the standards that are being set and just to be involved again, I’m learning as much as I can.”

The ‘world-class’ coaching team that Skelton refers to has been bolstered by former All Blacks scrum guru Mike Cron.

Cron arrived at the Wallabies with more than 200 Tests worth of experience having worked with the three-time world champions for 15 years before spells with the Black Ferns and World Rugby.

It seems he is already having an impact in Australia. Skelton revealed the legendary coach has formed a ‘scrum club’ which meets every Tuesday for extra sessions post training.

“I had my first scrumming session with the boys today and that’s the stuff I love about the game, the contest,” Skelton said.

“Scrumming and mauling is something I really enjoy so having a guy like Crono with his wealth of knowledge, his experience, the legacy he’s had and for him to be able to share that with us has been great.

“Guys are really open-minded and responding really well to all the drills he does, his criticism of us and ultimately trying to get us to play better and be better.

“He has his little scrum club that he has every Tuesday and I think I was having a shower and I looked out and they were still going!”

Given England’s struggles at the set piece in recent matches, especially late on, it is an area the Wallabies may well target at Allianz Stadium as they chase a first win in Twickenham for eight years.

“We’re seeing it as a massive opportunity to try and break that drought,” Skelton said.

“It’s an opportunity to play against 83-84 thousand people with our backs against the wall and it’s only us in that circle.”