Joe Schmidt was granted Irish citizenship in 2015, but ten years later, it’s becoming clear he didn’t take home some of the nation’s famous luck along with his certificate.
Chosen as Wallabies coach in the aftermath of the Eddie Jones era to build a competitive team to face the Lions on home soil, Schmidt cut a rueful figure on Thursday when he named a 23 for the opening Test in Brisbane, shorn of two of his biggest stars.
The absence of Rob Valetini and Will Skelton from the Wallabies pack will have hurt him hard, no matter the brave face he presented.
While Schmidt said the pair should be fit in time for the second Test in Melbourne on Saturday week, along with another missing forward in Langi Gleeson, their unavailability leaves Schmidt in a bleak position.
Valetini and Skelton, who have calf injuries, were “right on the edge”, said Schmidt.
Rob Valetini is pictured during an Australia Wallabies Training Session at the AIS on October 14, 2024 in Canberra, Australia. (Photo by Mark Nolan/Getty Images)
“If it was the last game of the series, I think they would have been in the mix.
“But the risk you take if you put those guys out there and they’re not quite ready and you try to push them through, you might end up worse off.
“I wouldn’t say we’re taking a long-term view with them, but we just felt it was the most judicious decision at the time.”
Schmidt acknowledged Valetini was a talismanic figure for the team.
“You put a training team together and all the boys are looking at Bobby’s team just to see if they’ve got a better chance of starting, because Bobby has been a very regular starter for us and a big player for us,” Schmidt said.
“Those are the things that do happen. I thought Langi went well against the Fijians. Langi was on the cusp as well. He’s just got a little bit of a cork.
Nick Champion de Crespigny poses for a photo after the Wallabies squad announcement ahead of the British & Irish Lions series at Suncorp Stadium on July 11, 2025 in Brisbane, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“And so it’s a great opportunity for Nick Champion de Crespigny, who’s trained well, had a good Super Rugby season and is very excited about the opportunity he has.”
The Western Force bruiser would have “big shoes to fill”
“He’s a good line-out option,” Schmidt said. “I thought he was very good in the Force lineout. He is probably a bit more of a roving scavenger than Bobby V, who in the past has been a big ball-carrier for us.
“And so he’ll complement Fraser [McReight] in that respect. And it probably puts a little bit more onus on Harry Wilson to fulfil the ball-carry role. And, at the same time, I do think that Fraser and Nick can help me out with that. And with Carlo [Tizanno] coming off the bench, Tom Hooper off the bench, they’re another couple of guys who carry really well for us.”
Some have suggested that the soft tissue injuries that have plagued the team in recent times could be down to training issues rather than bad luck.
“We did train in some pretty wet conditions, and the ground got pretty sticky, and that might have contributed to them,” Schmidt said.
“We’ve had a really good record of very few soft tissue injuries. So, I don’t think we suddenly will start to throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think we try to balance our load, get our recovery in.
“We monitor load really closely, so if someone is having a sudden spike, we might just pull them from training a little bit early and put someone in in their place.
“Will didn’t report anything during the training. He completed the training and then just felt it a little bit the next morning. And then we just decided to be conservative. And Bobby V, hiswas right at the end of the session when he wasn’t actually moving very fast. Not by his standards anyway.”
Skelton was ruled out of the Fiji Test last week with the same calf issue.
While the chosen 23 prepare for the game of their lives on Saturday, the missing men will be trying to prove they can play a role in Melbourne.
“They’ll do a session on Saturday that will include max velocity, change direction, a little bit of contact,” Schmidt said.
“That will be a controlled game simulation so that they can be ticked off and cleared for training in the Melbourne week.”
Despite the setbacks, and a less-than-emphatic win against Fiji last week, Schmidt argues that the Wallabies are in a good headspace.
Asked what moments have suggested that, Schmidt responded: “Some of those moments are away from the games.
“The conversations that I see them having and the confidence they’re giving each other and some of the trainings that we’ve had, they just seem to appreciate where they need to be and some of the skill execution in training.
“Obviously, the skill execution wasn’t great against Fiji, but hopefully there’s a few things that have been ironed out and we can be a little bit more cohesive and accurate, because we’re going to have to be. The British and Irish Lions are a lot different from playing Fiji. As much of a challenge as Fiji are.”
Schmidt believes the Australian rugby public are behind his men and will help prevent Saturday’s game from feeling like an away game in the Lions’ den.
Joe Schmidt, Coach of the Wallabies poses for a portrait during an Australian Wallabies Portrait Session at NEP Studios on June 24, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)
“It’s that reciprocal relationship, isn’t it? I don’t know which is the cart and which is the horse, but we need each other,” said Schmidt.
“We need that support to feel valued playing in front of a home crowd. But we also know that in recent times perhaps we haven’t earned that support, and so people tend to not be so vocal in their support of the team.
“We’ve felt a little bit of a shift, even in Newcastle. It was refreshing to get people in the street saying, ‘oh, can’t wait for the game on Sunday, or can’t wait for the Lions series.’
“And even here in Brisbane, in town, a guy came up to me the other day and said, ‘we are 100 per cent behind you.’ It was Brad Thorn, but it’s great to have his support.”
Thorn, who played 59 times for the All Blacks, was signed on a short-term deal by Schmidt when he was Leinster coach in 2012.
How he’d love to have a peak Thorn to throw into the fray against the Lions: “I did wonder if he had his boots.”
