Andy Farrell, unsurprisingly, bought himself an insurance policy when he drafted in Owen Farrell to replace the injured – and in-form – Elliot Daly last week.
The maligned 33-year-old might not have had the form to warrant selection, but the former England captain is a proven winner and the ultimate professional – and those attributes have been called on.
But it would seem that Joe Schmidt won’t follow suit on the eve of the Test series despite more injury concerns to the Wallabies’ playmakers. Quade Cooper, Bernard Foley and James O’Connor have been allowed to sail off into the sunset. Is it because Schmidt doesn’t want someone stuck in their ways?
It’s a risky play, and one that evokes the same concerns from Eddie Jones’ 2023 World Cup squad. Even Jones recently admitted to The Roar that leaving out Foley “might have been a mistake”, and the playmaker had been in fantastic form over the past season.
British & Irish Lions head coach Andy Farrell, right, and his son Owen Farrell before the Lions 1888 Cup match between the British & Irish Lions and Argentina at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Currently, the Wallabies’ playmakers are proving somewhat of a handbrake on the Wallabies.
Where the Lions have world-class options in the No.10 jersey, including Finn Russell, who is in career best form and matured over the years, the Wallabies barely have a fit playmaker they can trust to see out a game.
It comes after Noah Lolesio, who was once again cleared of any serious injury on Sunday night after being stretchered off after 60 minutes against Fiji, failed to see out a game for the third time in the past five matches. Two of those matches have seen him stretchered off.
Earlier this year, Lolesio, who started 11 of 13 Tests in 2024, missed a month of action after being concussed against the Drua in Fiji in the opening match of the competition.
Fellow playmaker Tom Lynagh has also had a stop-start two years, with the rising Reds talent missing chunks of training over the past couple of weeks after playing through a finger issue in the qualifying final loss to the Chiefs before copping another concussion.
At least Donaldson has, but there remain questions whether he can prove as effective as a starter as he has off the bench.
After all, the roles – and expectations – are different.
Noah Lolesio of the Wallabies runs the ball during the International Test match between Australia Wallabies and Fiji at McDonald Jones Stadium on July 06, 2025 in Newcastle, Australia. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
But durability is certainly something that Test match playmakers need and two of the Wallabies’ three playmakers haven’t yet showed that.
Will they be able to play three straight Tests and be able to back up at training on the Monday?
Alignment, what alignment?
The Wallabies’ midfield didn’t exactly light up Newcastle on Sunday. But is anyone surprised?
Len Ikitau, who spent the season at outside centre for the Brumbies was selected at inside centre, while Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, who started at outside centre but very quickly shifted to fullback, was returned to the No.13 jersey.
The selections made a mockery of the supposed “alignment” Rugby Australia is preaching. After all, RA owns the Waratahs and Brumbies.
Neither player had shockers, but they were quieter than anticipated, especially for two of the Wallabies’ most expensive and best players.
Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii of the Wallabies is tackled during the International Test match between Australia Wallabies and Fiji at McDonald Jones Stadium on July 06, 2025 in Newcastle, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Suaalii spent more time putting his head into rucks than taking on the Fijian defence out wide. Nor was his aerial prowess used either.
Ikitau, arguably the best outside centre in the world, didn’t have the space he craves either.
Later, Filipo Daugunu, who spent the spent the year either on the wing or at outside centre, replaced Ikitau in the midfield too. Unsurprinsgly, he didn’t look nearly as threatening closer to the action.
TMO mess a blight on the game
The Lions series has put rugby in the front shop window, but RA chief executive Phil Waugh will hope that the weekend’s Television Match Official involvement isn’t a sign of things to come over the next month.
With stadiums packed, TV audiences up and rugby headlines increasingly popping up across the media landscape, beers went lukewarm as minutes were wasted as TMOs popped up all over the place.
From Dunedin to Sydney and up to Newcastle, the fizz and momentum of games were lost by the continued sign-off of tries as TMOs enjoyed their time in the sun.
By the letter of the law, most were right.
But the amount of time it took for decisions to be made was ridiculous.
On Sunday, it took Pierre Brousset eight replays to settle on reversing his on-field decision that Tom Wright’s pass to Harry Poter had in fact floated forward. But why did the TMO take a minute to interject? Everyone could see the pass was forward.
Better still, what was the assistant referee doing?
And if it’s going to take that many replays because of a supposed inconclusive nature, then surely the right decision would have been to stick with the onfield decision?
Later in that match the assistant referee missed Potter put his foot on the sideline. Seconds later, the Fijians were denied a try by the missed moment as the energy went from the game.
One night earlier, another assistant referee, Angus Mabey, missed Duhan van der Merwe put his foot into touch in the second half. Eventually, the TMO stepped in.
Once again, seconds ticked by and the energy fell flat.
Did the Wallabies underestimate Fiji?
The Wallabies won’t admit they underestimated Fiji, they might not even know they did, but did they?
In the 52nd minute, holding a 14-8 lead, the Wallabies turned down a simple chance to extend their lead beyond a converted try by kicking for touch. Would they have rejected the chance against the Lions? Unlikely.
Seconds later, the home side was pinged for a technical infringement at the maul and, soon after, trailed on the scoreboard after a stunning run from Jiuta Wainiqolo left the Wallabies dead in their tracks.
Earlier, the Wallabies got greedy on the stroke of half time as Lolesio put in a chip-kick near halfway that backfired and allowed Fiji back into the match when they should have been out of the contest given their lack of territory.
Even after half-time, the Wallabies decided to run the ball back when territory and settling back into the contest was likely the order of the day.
In all three occasions, the Wallabies’ rugby intelligence or lack thereof was exposed.
Perception vs Reality
Taniela Tupou is on the watch list from World Rugby officials.
It wasn’t long ago that Tupou was a bulldozer at scrums, and while he still got some pay throughout this year’s Super Rugby season, he didn’t get anywhere near the reward he would have hoped.
Back in May, Tupou came off the bench and looked like dominating the Reds scrum. But referee James Doleman called for scrum resets rather than penalising the Reds as he demanded Tupou scrum square.
On Saturday, another New Zealand referee, Paul Williams, also pinged Tupou on several occasions.
Waratahs coach Dan McKellar had this to say why he might not be getting that same reward as in years gone by.
“I think from when I coached against him in the past, when he was at Queensland, when he was incredibly dominant back in ’21-22, probably through his profile he’s watched closer, so if he’s even in on a slight angle, the referee will ping him for it,” McKellar, the former prop, said.
“I think Nella, he wants to scrum square. Sometimes the scrum just goes to ground and it’s a 50-50.
“But clearly, there’ll be some things to review out of that for him to improve and get better on if he’s to contribute in the Test series ahead.”
Taniela Tupou has a big task ahead changing the perception around his scrummaging technique. (Photo by Mark Kolbe Photography/Getty Images)
Tupou’s 55-minute effort against the Lions came after the Wallabies released him to go back and play for the Waratahs.
In his place Zane Nonggorr, an inconsistent scrummager, who earlier struggled against New Zealand’s Super Rugby sides, was preferred against Fiji.
So will Tupou feature in the Lions Test series?
“I think what Taniela gives you is a sense of comfort and security around scrum time, and in Test matches against a quality team from the northern hemisphere, the scrum is going to be important,” McKellar said.
“Tonight, a couple of decisions went against him. On another night, they’ll go his way. I’m pretty sure that he’s still in the frame for Test one.”
McKellar’s likely right around the new perception regarding Tupou, but officials will be on high alert.
