Ronan O’Gara has provided the latest update on Will Skelton, insisting that the Wallabies lock, who was called home to France from the Rugby Championship, will play for La Rochelle sooner rather than later.
Skelton was released from Joe Schmidt’s Australia squad after starting the Rugby Championship Round Two match against South Africa in Cape Town on August 23.
However, he was nowhere to be seen when La Rochelle began their new 2025/26 Top 14 campaign on the same day that the Skelton-less Wallabies defeated Argentina 28-24 in the Rugby Championship.
With Skelton called home to France rather than provide further help to the Wallabies’ title bid, the expectation was for the second-row giant to feature in La Rochelle’s opening game away to Bordeaux.
“Australia holds the cards…”
Skelton, though, wasn’t selected for the 18-23 defeat, and the post-game reaction of head coach O’Gara didn’t confirm his availability for next Saturday’s Round Two home match against Clermont. That is the same day that the Wallabies will play Argentina in Round Four.
“Yes, we will see Will soon,” O’Gara told reporters in Bordeaux before pausing. “The most important thing for him is rest. I have a very good relationship with him, but it’s a rather complicated case because Australia holds the cards.”
Skelton arrived in Australia with doubts surrounding his fitness for the series against the British and Irish Lions. He missed the first Test in Brisbane but returned to play an influential part in the other two matches, especially the third encounter in the Sydney rain, where the Wallabies beat the Lions to leave the final result 1-2.
He then went to South Africa and was a starter in the two Rugby Championship matches against the Springboks, but the consensus was that his level of performance had dipped from his Lions series exploits.
Australia, who are currently in second place in the standings, have a two-game rubber with the All Blacks following next weekend’s Argentina rematch. The Wallabies are due in Auckland on September 27 before finishing in Perth on October 4.
There is no indication yet from Rugby Australia whether Schmidt will ask Skelton to come back from France for those games.