Why Joe Schmidt selected Will Skelton but snubbed James O’Connor and veteran trio
The Wallabies boss has explained his decision to select just one overseas-based player.
Wallabies boss Joe Schmidt has explained why he has selected just one overseas-based player in his 36-man squad and has addressed James O’Connor’s snub.
Schmidt’s squad features two uncapped players in the form of Brumbies flyer Corey Toole and Western Force back-rower Nick Champion de Crespigny.
While Japan-based veterans Samu Kerevi and Marika Koroibete featured for the Wallabies last year, they have both been omitted from the squad, with La Rochelle lock Will Skelton the only player selected who does not ply his trade for an Australian Super Rugby Pacific side.
Will Skelton’s inclusion
The French club’s failure to reach the Top 14 knockout stages meant that he returned to Australia early, which played a role in his inclusion, Schmidt revealed. The head coach further explained that the giant lock’s ability to ‘slot back in’ and popularity amongst the players made him an easy selection outside of his prowess on the pitch.
“Well, he’s massive, isn’t he?” Schmidt remarked.
“He’s an impressive-looking physical athlete. The thing with Will, he’s well-known to the players; he’s very much an established part of the team.
“He was with us on the Spring Tour last year, so for him to slot back in is pretty easy. He was back in Sydney at this time anyway, so it all dovetailed relatively well for us to get Will involved.”
While Skelton has been ushered back into the squad, Schmidt overlooked the in-form James O’Connor, who has played a pivotal role in a much-improved Crusaders who reached the Super Rugby Pacific Final.
Overlooked veterans
Schmidt is not limited to just selecting players in Australia, and Skelton was not the only player on the coach’s radar, revealing that he has spoken with O’Connor, Koroibete, Kerevi and veteran playmaker Bernard Foley.
However, he and his coaching team opted to rightly or wrongly select locally based players instead particularly when it came to the number 10s.
Asked if O’Connor was seriously considered, Schmidt responded: “Yeah, I spoke to James today after he finished training, he’s got a big game coming up this Saturday obviously.
“His experience, his skill set, a little bit of versatility that I’ve talked about before in that 10/12 channel, all those things were positive, and there are other guys that have been having ongoing conversations with the likes of Bernard Foley, Samu Kerevi, and Marika Koroibete.
“They’re all real, not just quality players, but quality contributors to an environment, so I’ve said it before how powerful player-to-player coaching is as a way to prepare players to play with the experience they bring but at the same time we’ve invested in three guys in that 10 spot and we are trying to balance things up.”
He added: “We’re going to keep investing in those guys and what I like about those players is they were investing in themselves really well in the environment last year. I think we saw all three of them make improvements to their game, increase their own confidence to drive the game and communicate the game to other players – so we didn’t want to interrupt that.
“I’m not saying we got it right, I’m just saying that’s what we chose to do.”
Before Australia tackle the British and Irish Lions, they will face off against Fiji in Newcastle.
