Tuesday 13 October 2026

Good morning GAGRs and welcome to another edition of Tuesday News as we feel the aftermath of another All Blacks victory at Eden Park. It’s another year where the Bledisloe Cup will stay in New Zealand, and of course it’s 12 wins a row by the All Blacks dating back to 2020. If you need to recap on the game, then have a look at Bris’s game review in the Monday news which you can find here.

Wallabies Squad Updates for Bledisloe 2

As well as having a good look in the mirror after their second half performance in Auckland, the Wallabies have had to call in some reinforcements to the squad after Len Ikitau suffered a concussion, and Jordan Petaia is unavailable due to an ankle injury. Into the squad comes Corey Toole and Kadin Pritchard, both from the Brumbies.

It’s a relatively quick turnaround, with the return clash in Sydney on Saturday afternoon at 3:45pm, curtain fading time. It’s a massive afternoon of rugby in Sydney with

The Wallaroos taking on Scotland,

The Australian Men’s Sevens team will play Fiji

The Australians Women’s Sevens team will face New Zealand

The Wallabies will host the All Blacks.

That all follows an evening of Rugby at Easts Football Club which will see Wallabies, Wallaroos, and Aussie 7s players out there signing autographs before the Aussie Women 7s take on New Zealand twice a 6:15 and 7:45pm, and the Aussie Men’s 7s take on Fiji at 6:45 and 8:20pm.

Wallaroos Squad for WXV Global Series

The Wallaroos have named their squad for the WXV Global Series home test matches, with the welcome return of star winger Maya Stewart, and regular number 8 Tabua Tuinakauvadra, who didn’t tour the UK. Both players will have their work cut out for them as Amelia Whitaker had some good hitouts on the wing, and Siokapesi Palu Sekona was very good at the back of the scrum. It adds to the depth in the squad as they look to maintain their perfect record against Scotland.

Australia A Squad to tour America

Australia A have named their squad for a two game tour to the United States where they will play in Nashville, and New Jersey. There are 12 capped Wallabies in the squad including returning Qld pair Matt Faessler and Tom Lynagh. It is great to see both of them fit and ready to take on the USA after injury interrupted seasons. Bernie Larkham will take the reins as head coach for the tour, and it will be interesting to see how he goes on the international coaching scene.

Farewell to the Ginger Ninja

News out yesterday that Wallabies fan favourite Andrew Kellaway has retired from professional rugby after a more than handy 12 year career where he earned 49 caps for the Wallabies after debuting against France in 2021 and being a regular in the Wallabies setup until 2025.

So from us here at Green and Gold Rugby, congrats on a fantastic career, and good luck in whatever you do next. I can’t say it any better than the Wallabies on Instagram.

Wallabies player ratings

It’s the week after a Wallabies test so we’ll do player ratings. As a reminder, these are my ratings, based on watching the game on Saturday and re-watching the ball in play version on Stan, with some consultation with the G&GR crew. As always, we’re using the G&GR scoring system.

10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – a pass mark
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
0 – Didn’t make it on, or no meaningful involvement.

Before we get into it, this was a tough game to give ratings for. After a very competitive first half, the Wallabies were blown off the park in the second half. The kiwis were amazing in the second half, but hte Wallabies who were good in the first half were completely unable to arrest the momentum or exert any sort of control on the second half. Anyway here we go.

Player Ratings

Angus Bell – The Wallabies had the better of the scrums but Bell found limited opportunities to run the ball, but he did make plenty of tackles in his time on the field. 5

Brandon Paenga-Amosa – Australia’s set piece went well and BPA was also busy carrying hte ball and making tackles. 5

Allan Alaalatoa – part of a good starting front row and made plenty of tackles. 5

Jeremy Williams – Had a good game, except for a penalty and some back chat at the beginning of the second half. A couple of lineout steals, and a breakdown turnover penalty were some gravy on the meat and potatoes of defensive work, carries, lineout work, and maul defence. 6

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto – the big lock was busy in defence and made hard carries when needed. 5

Rob Valetini – Bobby V was massive throughout with hard carries and some harder tackles. 6

Fraser McReight – Plenty of tackles by McReight, and some useful work with the ball in hand. Unusual to see him go through the game without a turnover, or turnover penalty. 5

Harry Wilson A captain’s knock in terms of tackles, runs, and leading from the front. But along with the other game leaders couldn’t change the momentum during the second half. 6

Ryan Lonergan – A very good game from Lonergan, particularly in the first half. His kicking went astray in the second half with poor clearances from klick offs helping NZ maintain field position and momentum. 6

Ben Donaldson – A mixed bag from Donaldson, some good involvements where he took the ball to the line, and some moments he would prefer to have again. His clearances failed to make much distance and kept inviting the All blacks back into the Wallabies half. 4

Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – had to change positions after Ikitau went off with a concussion. Some encouraging involvements with some hard running, though only caught one high ball. A coupe of no-arms tackles during the games that needs working on. 4

Len Ikitau – Not a great game for Ikitau, a dropped ball, and some defensive mis-reads that lead to clean breaks and the All Blacks first try. Failed his HIA after 20 minutes 4

Isaac Henry – Had some promising moments in a tough hitout. Shifted to inside centre after Ikitau went off, and was near to the top of the Aussie performers in terms of tackles made, and carries. 5

Max Jorgensen – One of Australia’s better performers, looked dangerous when running the ball, and worked tirelessly in defence. Couldn’t interrupt the All Blacks stream of high balls throughout the game. 5

Tom Wright – A few errors from wright to balance out the excellent running for his first try and generally good positional play, 5

Josh Nasser – part of a bench that couldn’t keep Australia in the game as the Kiwis took charge. Scored a try , but the game was already gone by that point. 4

Aidan Ross – Also part of a bench that couldn’t stem the flow of points by the All Blacks. 4

Massimo De Lutiis – Tried to get involved but couldn’t stem the All Blacks momentum. Scrummed well and carried and tackled well. 5

Lachlan Shaw – got time on the field, but I can’t remember any significant involvements 4

Nick Champion De Crespigny – was on at the end, and tried hard but the All Blacks kept on scoring tries and bullying the Aussies. As a collective, teh Aussie bench needed to do more to change the momentum. 4

Tate McDermott – Needs more game time, and hopefully will be better next week if he keeps his spot on the bench. Some poorly executed box kicks put pressure back on the Wallabies and couldn’t get his running game going. 4

Declan Meredith – Was thrown on with 15 or 20 to go and couldn’t change the momentum. Wil carry the memory of the last pass that missed everyone except Will Jordan, who kicked it ahead to score. 4

Harry Potter – Was on earlier than expected and tried to get involved, but like JAS and Max, couldn’t secure the kiwi contestible kicks. 4

Player of the match

Take your pick from Beauden Barrett, Jordan Barrett, Will Jordan, DMac, or Tupou Vaa’i, who were all outstanding.

For the Aussies I’m tempted to go with a split decision between Jeremy Williams and Harry Wilson.

That’s a wrap

As always, thanks for making it this far, have a great Tuesday, and look forward to the comments section.

Cheers, RAWF

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