{"id":184417,"date":"2025-10-02T06:44:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T06:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/184417\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T06:44:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T06:44:10","slug":"wallabies-bolstered-by-will-skeltons-return-for-bledisloe-cup-test-against-all-blacks-in-perth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/184417\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies bolstered by Will Skelton’s return for Bledisloe Cup Test against All Blacks in Perth"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wallabies have regained enforcer Will Skelton for Saturday night’s sold-out Bledisloe Cup Test with New Zealand in Perth.<\/p>\n

But veteran fly half James O’Connor has been dropped to the bench.<\/p>\n

Skelton has flown in from France to bolster the Wallabies’ second row as they attempt to bounce back from last week’s 33-24 loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park.<\/p>\n

O’Connor has made way for Tane Edmed among five changes to the Wallabies’ starting XV for the return clash, which doubles as a Rugby Championship Test.<\/p>\n

Scrum half Tate McDermott was among the outs after tearing his hamstring so badly last week it requires surgery.<\/p>\n

Jake Gordon has recovered from his own hamstring injury to replace McDermott in the starting line-up, with last week’s debutant Ryan Lonergan named on the bench.<\/p>\n

Slipper to quit Test rugby<\/a><\/p>\n

Wallabies veteran James Slipper announces he is drawing the curtain on his Test career.<\/p>\n

Filipo Daugunu earns his first start of the year on the left wing, while Allan Alaalatoa starts at tighthead prop in front of an expected crowd of more than 55,000 spectators.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies must defeat the All Blacks and rely on Argentina upsetting South Africa in order to have a chance at winning the Rugby Championship.<\/p>\n

With just one round to play, the Springboks top the standings on 15 points, with the All Blacks (14) and Wallabies (11) in contention.<\/p>\n

The Wallabies cannot win the Bledisloe Cup after losing the series opener across the Tasman.<\/p>\n

The All Blacks have made six changes to their run-on side, with fly half Beauden Barrett (shoulder) and prop Ethan de Groot (concussion) among the outs.<\/p>\n

Prop Tyrel Lomax (broken thumb) and winger Caleb Clarke (ankle) will also miss through injury.<\/p>\n

Damian McKenzie has been handed the number 10 jersey, while winger Leicester Fainga’anuku will play his first Test since the 2023 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Wallabies: Max Jorgensen, Harry Potter, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Filipo Daugunu, Tane Edmed, Jake Gordon, Harry Wilson (C), Fraser McReight, Tom Hooper, Will Skelton, Nick Frost, Allan Alaalatoa, Billy Pollard, James Slipper<\/p>\n

Reserves: Josh Nasser, Tom Robertson, Taniela Tupou, Jeremy Williams, Rob Valetini, Ryan Lonergan, James O’Connor, Josh Flook<\/p>\n

All Blacks: Will Jordan, Leroy Carter, Quinn Tupaea, Jordie Barrett, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Damian McKenzie, Cam Roigard, Peter Lakai, Ardie Savea, Simon Parker, Tupou Vaa’i, Scott Barrett (C), Fletcher Newell, Codie Taylor, Tamaiti Williams<\/p>\n

Reserves: Samisoni Taukei’aho, George Bower, Pasilio Tosi, Patrick Tuipulotu, Wallace Sititi, Cortez Ratima, Rieko Ioane, Ruben Love<\/p>\n

AAP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wallabies have regained enforcer Will Skelton for Saturday night’s sold-out Bledisloe Cup Test with New Zealand in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":184418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[10751,64,63,99527,57268,1736,46,760,2633,85,117984,2500,55041],"class_list":["post-184417","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-all-blacks","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bledisloe-cup","tag-james-oconnor","tag-new-zealand","tag-perth","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-union","tag-sports","tag-tane-edmed","tag-wallabies","tag-will-skelton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=184417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/184417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/184418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=184417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=184417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=184417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}