{"id":467,"date":"2025-07-17T13:45:45","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T13:45:45","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T13:45:45","slug":"wallabies-team-2025-british-and-irish-lions-first-test-news-rob-valetini-will-skelton-taniela-tupou-out-nick-champion-de-crespigny-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/467\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies team 2025 | British and Irish Lions first Test news, Rob Valetini, Will Skelton, Taniela Tupou out, Nick Champion de Crespigny debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRISBANE: The Wallabies<\/a> will be without their best player and two other powerful forwards for their most important game since the 2019 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals.<\/p>\n

Flanker Rob Valetini, the two-time reigning John Eales Medallist as Australia’s best player, has been ruled out of Saturday’s opening Test against the British and Irish Lions<\/a> due to a calf injury.<\/p>\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt<\/a> has also opted not to risk giant lock and former captain Will Skelton, who is also recovering from a calf niggle.<\/p>\n

Watch all the action from the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour of Australia on Stan Sport, the only place to watch every match live and on demand<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Rob<\/p>\n

Rob Valetini of the Wallabies looks on during The Rugby Championship.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Enigmatic prop Taniela Tupou is also missing from the team sheet after a miserable Super Rugby season, along with backrower Langi Gleeson, who Schmidt said had a “cork.”<\/p>\n

Schmidt has sprung a major surprise by handing Nick Champion de Crespigny a Test debut in Valetini’s No.6 jersey.<\/p>\n

The coach said de Crespigny’s lineout ability was a major asset, along with his thirst for tackling.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Gallen reveals what SBW said in fiery post-fight moment<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Up yours, Gus’: Gallen’s hilarious Gould spray after win<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Smith’s sad fall from world No.2 to ‘obscurity’ in three years<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Nick Champion de Crespigny of the Force reaches for the ball as he warms up.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Matt Faessler will start at hooker after Dave Porecki’s concussion against Fiji while Tom Lynagh will emulate his famous father Michael in wearing the gold No.10 jersey at Suncorp Stadium.<\/a><\/p>\n

“The whole squad has worked hard as a group to prepare for what’s going to be a massive challenge against an in-form Lions team,” Schmidt said.<\/p>\n

“With the short runway leading up to such a big Test match, we know we must adapt fast and improve quickly, from the performance we had against Fiji recently.<\/p>\n

NEW PODCAST! Test greats Jamie Roberts and Bernard Foley join Sean Maloney and Matt Burke to chat all things Lions and Wallabies<\/p>\n

“We’re very much aware of the occasion and conscious of earning the support from the public through the effort they see on the field.”<\/p>\n

Champion de Crespigny is a rugged 29-year-old Canberra product who got his professional start in France before returning home to play for the Force this season.<\/p>\n

His club and now Test teammate Jeremy Williams tipped him to mix it against a formidable Lions pack in what will be a heaving atmosphere.<\/p>\n

“He’s really physical on the field and really loves that part of the game, just getting up in peoples’ faces and tackling them,” Williams said.<\/p>\n

No.8 Harry Wilson retains the captaincy while there is no room for unlucky winger Dylan Pietsch.<\/p>\n

Schmidt expected Valetini, Skelton and Gleeson to all be available for selection for the second Test in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

“If it was the last game of the series, I think they would have been in the mix,” he told reporters.<\/p>\n

“But the risk you take if you put those guys out there and they’re not quite ready and you try to push them through, you might end up worse off. I wouldn’t say we’re taking a long-term view with them, but we just felt it was the most judicious decision at the time…<\/p>\n

“It’s funny, you put a training team together and all the guys are looking, ‘am I in (Valetini)’s team?’, to see if they might get a chance of starting. Bobby has been a very regular starter for us and a big player for us. Those are the things that happen.<\/p>\n

\"Langi<\/p>\n

Langi Gleeson of Australia charges up field at the Principality Stadium.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“Langi went well against the Fijians, and he was on the cusp as well. It is a great opportunity for Nick Champion de Crespigny, who has trained well and had a good Super Rugby season.”<\/p>\n

Tupou and Filipo Daugunu have been released to play for the First Nations & Pasifika XV against the Lions in Melbourne on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

WALLABIES (15-1): Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter, Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon, Harry Wilson (c), Fraser McReight, Nick Champion de Crespigny, Jeremy Williams, Nick Frost, Allan Alaalatoa, Matt Faessler, James Slipper<\/p>\n

Reserves: Billy Pollard, Angus Bell, Tom Robertson, Tom Hooper, Carlo Tizzano, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, Andrew Kellaway<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRISBANE: The Wallabies will be without their best player and two other powerful forwards for their most important…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467","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=467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}