Joe Schmidt leaves door open for former Wallabies captain’s Rugby Championship return
Wallabies lock Will Skelton and head coach Joe Schmidt.
Although he was not included in Australia’s 36-man squad for their upcoming Rugby Championship Tests against South Africa, Will Skelton could represent his country later on in the competition.
That was word from Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt who revealed that he has spoken to Skelton about making a return to action in the Test arena.
Schmidt‘s predecessor, Eddie Jones, appointed Skelton as the Wallabies‘ captain ahead of their 2023 Rugby World Cup campaign in France but the behemoth second-row only played in his team’s opening game against Georgia at the global showpiece and missed the rest of the tournament after sustaining an injury at training.
Only one overseas-based player in Wallabies squad
Skelton currently plies his trade at club level with La Rochelle in the Top 14 and missed out on selection for the recent July internationals while star wing Marika Koroibete, who plays for Japanese club Saitama Wild Knights is the only overseas-based player in Schmidt’s Rugby Championship squad.
And while Schmidt prefers to select players who are based in Australia, he said that “doesn’t mean that I don’t have any conversations with overseas players”, including Skelton.
“We’ve had a few discussions, Will and I,” Schmidt said. “He’s a great fella to talk to.
“He obviously watched our games during July very closely and we had a chat about those games.
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“We have chatted about him potentially being involved later in the Championship.
“It’s all quite open-ended at the moment and they’ve been really supportive of the young guys that we’ve brought in, locally based, and also willing to step in should we feel that that’s the best decision for the team.”
The Top 14 season finished in June and Schmidt said he was not keen on bringing Skelton out when he is not 100 per cent fit but added that the 32-year-old would be considered for a call up either for the latter stages of the Rugby Championship or the Wallabies’ end-of-year tour.
“There’s also the complications of getting him back from France and then getting him back up to France because this window is complicated,” Schmidt said.
‘Not a normal Test window’
“It’s not a normal Test window in the Northern Hemisphere, so it just becomes a little bit complicated from that perspective.
“As good a player as Will is with the experience he has, if he arrives here and he’s fatigued and he goes back there and he’s fatigued, and we’re trying to get him backwards and forwards, it’s not necessarily going to add the amount of value we’d like it to add.
“It may be later in the Rugby Championship that he comes in, or he may even come in when we head north for the Spring Tour.”
