The question Joe Schmidt and the Wallabies should be asking after Will Skelton’s ‘see you next year’ message
La Rochelle lock Will Skelton and an inset of current and future Wallabies coaches Joe Schmidt and Les Kiss.
If you don’t ask, the answer is no and Joe Schmidt, Les Kiss and Rugby Australia should really be asking an important question to Tom Staniforth…
Do you want to play for the Wallabies? It seems like a daft question to pose to a Canberra-born and educated man, but after earning his first call-up to the French squad during the Six Nations, it might not be as straightforward an answer as usual.
Staniforth hardly got a look in to the Wallabies squads during his time in Australia, playing for the Brumbies and Waratahs, but has wiggled his way onto Fabian Galthie’s radar through his ridiculous work rate at Castres.
When he packed his bags for France back in 2021, the lock could hardly have picked a more fitting club, one where a hard-nosed, aggressive grafter perfectly aligns with a team that is rarely fancied for silverware but one that you can never rule out – they won the Top 14 in 2018 and reached the final in 2022, they finished the regular season in sixth position in the former.
Fast forward to 2026, and after missing an entire season through injury, he is back to the graft with Castres and, having qualified through residency to represent France, immediately earned a call-up to the squad that went on to win the 2026 Six Nations trophy.
Will Skelton blow
Crucially, however, he did not earn a cap for Les Bleus during the successful tournament, which allows Schmidt, Kiss and Rugby Australia to pounce – an opportunity that needs to be seriously considered after Will Skelton’s savage blow.
Last weekend, the 33-year-old powerhouse lock limped off the pitch during the first half of La Rochelle’s Top 14 clash against Bayonne – which was just his second outing since a calf injury sidelined him for two months from early January.
“There’s a suspected Achilles tendon rupture,” La Rochelle assistant coach Remi Tales told reporters at the weekend.
“It’s tough for a player like him, given the effort he’s put in to come back after his calf injury. We’re all thinking of him and hope he recovers quickly, because we need him.”
It’s not only Ronan O’Gara’s charges who ‘need’ Skelton, the Wallabies desperately need him too. Last year, there was a stark drop in performance when Skelton wasn’t playing compared to when he was. The British and Irish Lions Tests provide a perfect example of just that.
Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams were standouts in his absence, and the likes of Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Tom Hooper performed admirably, but none bring what Skelton brings to the Wallabies pack.
And just like last year, the Wallabies need to fill that void yet again.
“Season cut short. Thanks for all your messages,” Skelton wrote on Instagram, delivering the crushing news. “Always grateful, see you next year.”
There will be a hope that he returns ahead of schedule for the Wallabies, but a July recovery is surely off the cards, and plans have to be made.
Locally, Darcy Swain impressed last season and earned a recall, but it didn’t go much further than that. Seru Uru, Angus Blyth, and Matt Philip could all do a job, but again, they are all different kinds of players compared to Skelton.
Miles Amatosero, who also spent time in France, is perhaps the most like-for-like replacement but hasn’t quite lived up to his potential yet and is a far greener option.
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Ticking the boxes
Which leads us back to Staniforth, who ticks more Skelton boxes than any of the other options. Age-wise, he is just two years’ Skelton’s junior; he is five centimetres shorter, but the latter does have 20kgs on him. Frankly, Australia were never going to find a perfect replacement, but the France-based man is pretty damn close when it comes to what he offers on the park.
Like Skelton, he isn’t really a lineout jumper, which doesn’t matter that much as the likes of Frost and Williams are able to compensate with back-rowers Rob Valetini, Hooper and Harry Williams. Still, his 21 lineout wins on Castres’ throws in his 15 appearances in the Top 14 this season, as well as three lineout steals, mean that he is certainly no slouch and adds something extra to the pack that Skelton wouldn’t.
Similarly, to Skelton, he doesn’t play a full 80 minutes as he averages just 49 minutes per game, but he gets through a ton of work during that time. He averages 17 carries per game, the second-highest rate in the league (of the players who have played at least 10 matches), regularly crossing the gain-line and averages about 18 tackles per 80 minutes – ranking among the 15 best in the competition. He is no ruck inspector either, racking up 136 entries too.
Numbers-wise, it’s easy to see what he has piqued the interest of the French national team, but he has met the eye test and has the physique that Galthie likes in his pack, having selected several big-bodied tighthead locks in the past in the form of Paul Williams, Romain Taofifenua, Emmanuel Meafou and Mickael Guillard.
The latter two featured throughout the Six Nations, while Taofifenua has made a U-turn on his decision to hang up his Test boots, but didn’t play in the Championship.
Move before France do
Opportunities in the Test set-up will be there for Staniforth as Galthie is renowned for resting a plethora of players during the July internationals, where he could stamp his mark, but frankly, the Wallabies should be stepping before that occurs.
There may well be an admin with World Rugby to sort, but going forward, he would be worth the effort. Skelton is a crucial cog in the Wallabies pack, but as mentioned above, they struggle without him, and Schmidt didn’t seem eager to explore the options beyond Williams and Frost last year, with Salakaia-Loto and Hooper used sparingly in the role, with the head coach also including two back-rowers rather than a lock and a loose forward on his bench.
Depth is crucial in international rugby, and lock is clearly an area where the Wallabies are thin, and Staniforth can be more than a short-term fix. At 31, he has a good few years of international rugby ahead of him and could be the stopgap between Skelton and the next powerhouse lock, perhaps Amatosero.
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Having recently re-signed with Castres through to the end of the 2026/27 season, Rugby Australia could make the proposition of representing the Wallabies even more tantalising with the prospect of returning home, particularly after the lock recently celebrated the birth of his latest child.
Rugby Australia have loosened their selection policy around overseas-based players, and this is the perfect example of why they’ve done so, but now will the union, current head coach and future head coach capitalise on it? There is a small window of opportunity for them to do so, as he will almost surely debut for France in July if they don’t.
La Rochelle reportedly moved to find a replacement for Skelton, considering the length of time he will be sidelined, targeting Springboks lock Salmaan Moerat and Australia should be doing the same.
