Wallabies playmaker Ben Donaldson says if given the chance, he would have played against the Lions this weekend for the Western Force.
Instead, the 26-year-old, who hasn’t played a professional game in more than a month, has been wrapped in cotton wool ahead of the Wallabies’ only Test ahead of the Lions against Fiji in Newcastle on July 6.
Although nine players from the Force were selected for the Wallabies, four of Simon Cron’s best players, including Donaldson, were asked to cross the Nullarbor last weekend to link up with Joe Schmidt’s side ahead of the Fijian fixture.
The decision caused quite a stir within the Lions camp, with CEO Ben Calveley laying a stake in the ground on Monday after arriving in Perth by saying he expected current Wallabies to appear in the provincial games.
“We’ll see a competitive fixture at the weekend, and that’s what we’re looking for,” Calveley said.
“We want to make sure our guys are battle hardened when it comes to that Test series against the Wallabies. The agreement is very clear; it says that Test players have to be released to play in fixtures leading into that series. That is our expectation.”
Andy Farrell’s Lions arrived in Perth in recent days and made a splash. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Schmidt later returned serve, saying he had “read the tour agreement”.
Calveley should at least be happy to know regular Wallabies Hunter Paisami and Matt Faessler, who hasn’t played since April 12 because of injury, have returned to Brisbane to prepare for the Reds’ clash against the Lions on July 2.
Donaldson, who is one of three playmakers in Schmidt’s squad, said his preference would have been to take on the Lions in front of his home fans, but added it wasn’t his decision.
“Obviously, it’s kind of out of the players’ control,” the playmaker told reporters from the Wallabies’ team base in Double Bay on Wednesday.
“We just do what the coaches want. We get the scheduling. We come into camp. There’s four of us Force boys who are here, five still back there.
“There’s still a good share who are back there ready to rip in this weekend. They’re super excited, as are the other boys in the squad who get an opportunity to play this weekend against the Lions.
“It would have been awesome to play. Any game you get to play against the Lions team is pretty cool. But like I said, we’re in camp now. We’re preparing for this Fiji Test next week. I’m really excited to watch the Force boys play this weekend.”
The decision to deny Donaldson the chance to play could potentially rob him the chance of taking on the Lions.
With Tom Lynagh (finger) racing the clock to be fit to take on the Flying Fijians and Noah Lolesio copping another head injury in the Brumbies’ semifinal defeat to the Chiefs earlier this month, Donaldson is primed to take on Fiji in some capacity.
But whether that means he will take on the Lions remains to be seen.
Wallabies regular Ben Donaldson says he wanted to play for the Force against the Lions. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)
Donaldson, who has ridden the highs and lows of the international game since debuting in late 2022, admitted that every move and decision on the field could be influential come selection time for next month’s crunch series against the Lions.
“Yes, 100 per cent,” he said. “You’re right.
“We’re kind of just going day by day at the moment. Joe’s spoken about getting better each day. How can you prep to perform at training each day? How can you recover the best you can? That’s kind of what my mindset is.
“We’ve got this Fiji test next week. Whoever gets the opportunity to play in that will be putting their hand up to play well for the Lions game.
“There’s some great competition for the ten spot. I’m just going to do everything I can to take my opportunity if it does come.”
Making the decision to rule him out of the Force game this Saturday all the more surprising is that Donaldson’s last bit of action on the field was against the Waratahs on May 24.
His two main rivals for the No.10 jersey, Lolesio and Lynagh played on June 14 and June 6, respectively. The playmakers did, however, have their evenings ended across the ditch early after both copping head knocks.
Ben Donaldson believes the Wallabies are better equipped to handle the pressure during the Lions than they were during the World Cup. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
The Wallabies came together for the first time since January last Sunday and have spent the entire week focusing on themselves rather than the upcoming series against the Lions and, indeed, the Flying Fijians.
They will turn their attention to taking on Mick Byrne’s Fijians next Monday.
The clash will be the first time the Wallabies have taken on the Flying Fijians since their shock defeat at the World Cup in Saint Etienne. The loss, which came days after key players Will Skelton, Taniela Tupou and Tate McDermott were ruled out of the match, sent the Wallabies’ World Cup campaign into a spiral they didn’t recover from.
Donaldson admitted the match “wasn’t a great day for us or Australian rugby”, but said he was confident that the group could handle the wave of pressure that was coming ahead of next month’s Lions series.
“Oh, I think the experience of that World Cup and playing that Fiji game, that experience itself definitely helped a lot of us moving forward,” he said.
“And, yeah, I do definitely think that most of us have the runs on the board now to be able to go out and execute and win games against whoever the opposition is.
“To answer your question around if there was an experienced 10 in the squad, hard to say, I’m not too sure. We felt fully prepared going into those games, thinking that we could win.
“We had some great leaders in that group, Tatey, one of them. And, yeah, we just weren’t able to perform and execute, which was disappointing.
“But it’s been two years now, and a lot of boys have had a lot of growth since then and played superbly in Super Rugby and had Test match experience. So, yeah, we’re full of confidence and we back everyone here in the squad.”
