{"id":805667,"date":"2026-07-17T07:55:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805667\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T07:55:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T07:55:15","slug":"nations-championship-2026-wallabies-joe-schmidts-last-test-australia-vs-italy-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/805667\/","title":{"rendered":"Nations Championship 2026, Wallabies: Joe Schmidt\u2019s last Test; Australia vs Italy preview"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Schmidt<\/a> says he is feeling \u201clost\u201d as he prepares for his final Test in charge of the Wallabies<\/a> against Italy on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

The 60-year-old New Zealander will hand the coaching reins to former Australian rugby league star Les Kiss<\/a>, who will start his run to the 2027 Rugby World Cup<\/a> against Eddie Jones\u2019 Japan on August 8.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt addresses media.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

A former World Rugby coach of the year with Ireland, Schmidt has not been able to reach those heights with the Wallabies since taking over from Jones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m nervous. I\u2019m always nervous,\u201d Schmidt told reporters ahead of the Nations Championship clash in Perth.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of feeling nervous, I feel a little bit lost. You know, when you work really hard week to week, and you\u2019re always planning ahead, and the planning ahead has disappeared.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I\u2019m partly looking forward to being able to get a little bit more sleep and spend a little bit more time with family … to be able to do something other than be totally engrossed in a job that I love, but it takes a lot out of you because you put a lot into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is plenty on the line for Schmidt\u2019s personal legacy at HBF Park.<\/p>\n

A loss would leave him with the worst winning percentage as Wallabies coach in the professional era.<\/p>\n

Australia have won just one of their past 10 Tests while the Wallabies have also lost their past two encounters against Italy.<\/p>\n

Schmidt described last weekend\u2019s second-half capitulation to France, in which they conceded 30 unanswered points, as \u201csoul-destroying\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d just love them to put it all together for a long enough period of time,\u201d he said, after making three changes to his starting XV.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I know how good Italy are. I think they\u2019re really well coached … so I know we\u2019re in for a really tough battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Declan Meredith will start his second Test at No.10 in Perth, with Ben Donaldson providing cover on the bench.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Coach Joe Schmidt and Declan Meredith talk during a Wallabies training session at Ballymore Stadium.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

A revolving door in the chief playmaking position has plagued Schmidt\u2019s tenure.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a catch-up with James (O\u2019Connor) in Brisbane, spoke to Noah (Lolesio) and Tane (Edmed),\u201d Schmidt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t, by any means, discard anyone or disregard them as potential players. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m talking to Les as well and just saying, \u2018What do you feel is the best springboard going forward?\u2019 I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m operating in isolation; we\u2019re trying to make decisions. Right now, we\u2019ve got to get a result, but also I think we can do that, balance that and still be a little bit more long-term thinking around those 10s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably one of my biggest frustrations, not having that continuity to drive the game and have that consistency of messaging and ability to grow someone in that position so that they see more of the game and are more confident around kind of making calls and making decisions on the fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry Wilson said he was keen to continue as Wallabies captain under Kiss and paid tribute to Schmidt\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe means so much to me,\u201d Wilson told reporters in Perth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Harry Wilson warms up in Brisbane.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe really believed in me, probably at a point where I didn\u2019t believe in myself as much.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis relentless support and always keeping you accountable to make you a better footballer is something I really appreciate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson has played under Kiss at the Reds.<\/p>\n

\u201cLes can choose what he wants; it\u2019s his team moving forward. Obviously, I\u2019d love to remain in the role,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(The captaincy) makes you feel a lot more responsible and confident to go out there and try and put the performances in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Italy, meanwhile, have their own issues after coach Gonzalo Quesada was banned for the match after criticising the referees in last weekend\u2019s 47-17 loss to the All Blacks in Wellington.<\/p>\n

Quesada called referee Luc Ramos \u201csuper poor\u201d and bizarrely described Niccolo Cannone\u2019s red card for headbutting as \u201ca bit harsh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant coach German Fernandez will be in charge instead, with Quesada not allowed to have contact with the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cBehind every difficulty lies an opportunity,\u201d Fernandez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important objective for this third match is to control the pace of the game, to take the initiative and manage our attack with balance, using footwork, attacking with our hands, accelerating and playing in a more organised manner.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe match against New Zealand was the most intense of the year, both in terms of the amount of play and the pace. It was incredibly demanding, so we need to work hard on that aspect. But the atmosphere is positive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kick-off in Perth is 8.10pm AEST with coverage on Stan Sport from 7pm.<\/p>\n

WALLABIES (15-1):\u00a0Tom Wright, Max Jorgensen, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Len Ikitau, Harry Potter, Declan Meredith, Ryan Lonergan, Harry Wilson (c), Carlo Tizzano, Rob Valetini, Jeremy Williams, Josh Canham, Allan Alaalatoa, Brando Paenga-Amosa, Angus Bell.<\/p>\n

Reserves:\u00a0Billy Pollard, James Slipper, Zane Nonggorr, Miles Amatosero, Fraser McReight, Tate McDermott, Ben Donaldson, Filipo Daugunu<\/p>\n

ITALY (15-1):\u00a0Lorenzo Pani, Louis Lynagh, Nacho Brex, Paolo Odogwu, Monty Ioane, Paolo Garbisi, Alessandro Garbisi, Ross Vintcent, Michele Lamaro (c), Riccardo Favretto, Federico Ruzza, Giulio Marini, Marco Riccioni, Gianmarco Lucchesi, Muhamed Hasa<\/p>\n

Reserves:\u00a0Pablo Dimcheff, Danilo Fischetti, Ion Neculai, Andrea Zambonin, Alessandro Ortombina, Alessandro Fusco, Giacomo Da Re, Leonardo Marin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Schmidt says he is feeling \u201clost\u201d as he prepares for his final Test in charge of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805668,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-805667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805667","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=805667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805667\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}