{"id":746349,"date":"2026-06-19T09:03:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746349\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T09:03:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T09:03:11","slug":"joe-schmidt-makes-shock-calls-in-wallabies-nations-championship-squad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746349\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt makes shock calls in Wallabies Nations Championship squad"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is the surprise omission from the Wallabies squad as Joe Schmidt named his final training group before handing over to Les Kiss.<\/p>\n

The lock has been in outstanding form for Kiss\u2019 Reds outfit in 2026, being a mainstay of the starting XV as the Queensland finished the highest of any Australian franchise in Super Rugby Pacific.<\/p>\n

They also gave the Chiefs a fright in the play-offs before succumbing to the eventual finalists with Salakaia-Loto at the heart of that forward effort, including scoring a try.<\/p>\n

He is not on the injury list which has ruled out the likes of Jake Gordon, rugby league convert Zac Lomax and the gargantuan second-row Will Skelton.<\/p>\n

With Skelton absent, Salakaia-Loto is one of the few locks in the country that provide real physicality in the engine room, but he has possibly missed out to the uncapped Miles Amatosero, who receives his first call-up and is one of three uncapped players in the squad alongside Lachlan Shaw and Declan Meredith.<\/p>\n

Amatosero returned to Australia<\/a> in 2024 after a stint in France and has enjoyed a fine campaign for the New South Wales-based outfit. At almost 20st, he can give them an edged in the front five.<\/p>\n

Salakaia-Loto\u2019s Reds team-mate, Josh Canham, has also made the cut while Shaw and Jeremy Williams are the only other out-and-out locks in the 37-man squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cLukhan\u2019s an incredible athlete. I think he had some really good moments in Super Rugby. It was probably just stringing consecutive moments together,\u201d Schmidt<\/a> told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking for him just to have a bit of a block where he can get himself into the best physical shape to best contribute to the team. What we do need is fast jumping locks, and we know he\u2019s got that speed, but he\u2019s just not quite where we\u2019d like him to be at the moment and we just think we can take this window [to get there].<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been a big part of Les\u2019 [Kiss, incoming Wallabies coach] team this year. Les was very much in the meetings where we were doing selection, and we\u2019re just trying to put together the best plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exeter duo included<\/p>\n

Exeter Chiefs flanker Tom Hooper can fill in at lock if required and he is one of four individuals that played abroad during the 2025\/26 season included.<\/p>\n

He is joined by Exeter team-mate Len Ikitau, as well as props Angus Bell and Taniela Tupou, who have been playing for Ulster and Racing 92 respectively.<\/p>\n

Bell has since returned to Australia following his six months in Belfast, while Tupou\u2019s campaign is still ongoing having made the semi-finals of the Top 14 with the Parisians.<\/p>\n

Should he reach the showpiece event then the tighthead will miss the Wallabies\u2019 opening game of the Nations Championship against Ireland.<\/p>\n

Super Rugby Pacific awards: All Blacks star takes top prize after \u2018tiebreaker\u2019 as Aussie rookie lands inaugural gong<\/a><\/p>\n

Hooper and Ikitau, meanwhile, complete their domestic responsibilities this weekend when they feature for the Chiefs in the PREM final.<\/p>\n

When Tupou does join up with the squad he could partner James Slipper in a Test front-row once again with the 37-year-old the other big surprise call.<\/p>\n

Slipper retired from Test rugby last year but has answered an SOS from Schmidt with looseheads Tom Robertson and Blake Schoupp both unavailable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere have been ongoing discussions amongst the coaches for a number of months and, as always, there are some very good players who have not been selected for this first international window,\u201d the current Wallabies boss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve settled on a group that we think will work hard and can perform well against three top-tier European teams with the added excitement of competing in the new Nations Championship for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind the scrum, Andrew Kellaway is arguably the biggest name to miss out, while fly-halves Noah Lolesio and James O\u2019Connor have also not done enough to force their way in.<\/p>\n

Carter Gordon and Ben Donaldson have been joined by the uncapped Meredith as the 10 options heading into the Nations Championship.<\/p>\n

Wallabies squad for the Nations Championship<\/p>\n

Forwards: Allan Alaalatoa, Miles Amatosero, Angus Bell, Charlie Cale, Josh Canham, Nick Champion De Crespigny, Tom Hooper, Fraser McReight, Josh Nasser, Zane Nonggorr, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Billy Pollard, Aidan Ross, Lachlan Shaw, James Slipper, Carlo Tizzano, Taniela Tupou, Rob Valetini, Jeremy Williams, Harry Wilson<\/p>\n

Backs: Jock Campbell, Filipo Daugunu, Ben Donaldson, Josh Flook, Carter Gordon, Len Ikitau, Max Jorgensen, Ryan Lonergan, Tate McDermott, Declan Meredith, Hunter Paisami, Dylan Pietsch, Harry Potter, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Kalani Thomas, Corey Toole, Tom Wright<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Super Rugby Pacific final: Prediction, teams, kick-off time, TV coverage and more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is the surprise omission from the Wallabies squad as Joe Schmidt named his final training group…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746350,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,818,1182,1381,44,760,85],"class_list":["post-746349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-home-page","tag-internationals","tag-joe-schmidt","tag-news","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746349","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=746349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}