The Wallabies are already in the northern hemisphere for the start of their end-of-year tour (EOYT), where they play England, Italy, Ireland, and France, but not before they play Japan on Saturday, 25 October.

Having touched down in Tokyo, the team is set to take on the Brave Blossoms, who are coached by the Wallabies’ former head coach, Eddie Jones.

However, this reunion has lost some of its sting leading up to this game, with Jones’ biggest Wallabies selection omissions from the 2023 Rugby World Cup absent for this clash, for one reason or another.

Electrifying fullback Tom Wright is nursing an ACL injury, stellar outside centre Len Ikitau is already playing for his new club, Exeter Chiefs in the UK, and the chosen playmaker of the current Wallabies coach, Noah Lolesio, is recovering from a nasty neck injury.

This brief visit to the land of the rising sun will no doubt have an Eddie Jones-shaped shadow cast over the result, one way or another. But for the Wallabies of today, it is all strictly business as they embark on a crucial EOYT, which determines their RWC pool placement for 2027.

While the team is focused on securing the necessary results, there are players throughout the side who now have an unmissable opportunity to boost their stocks and truly impress Schmidt and his band of coaches.

Hunter Paisami, inside centre No.12

The 27-year-old has been playing second fiddle to Ikitau, who has made an eye-catching switch from No.13 to No.12, ever since he missed last year’s EOYT due to a calf injury and the birth of one of his children.

Now, because Ikitau is tied up with his new club until most likely the Ireland and France games, Paisami has a very small but seemingly guaranteed window to impress in the No.12 jersey.

His only Wallabies game in the last 12 months came against Argentina in Sydney during this season’s Rugby Championship. It was certainly an eye-catching performance marred only by two poorly timed and executed offloads.

In that game, he made two line breaks, beat a team high of six defenders, for 68 metres carried, and made 12/13 tackles.

There is no doubt that Paisami is Test-standard, but the issue has been that Ikitau is world-class. Similarly, the arrival and rapid rise of Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has seen their partnership become Schmidt’s preferred option.

The biggest thing Paisami has over both of those players is a complete skill set. His ability to run, kick, and playmake is leagues ahead of the other two.

This multifaceted play is what Paisami must showcase, because while Ikitau’s carrying game tight to the ruck has undoubtedly boosted the Wallabies, his lack of a distribution game has cost the Wallabies elsewhere.

The Wallabies’ inexperienced playmaking stocks require a steadying hand and a good communicator. Paisami can bring both those assets, and should he curb the unnecessary offloads, he has a good chance to demand the No.12 jersey even when Ikitau returns.

Team Form

Last 5 Games

4/5

Race To 10 Points

0/5

Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, tighthead lock No.5

No one has had a bigger impact on the Wallabies in 2025 than one of the world’s premier tighthead locks, Will Skelton, and this has pushed out the Wallabies’ second biggest lock, Salakaia-Loto.

While Skelton was manhandling the British and Irish Lions in Melbourne, LSL was on his own rampage against the Lions for other invitational and club sides, but Schmidt did not bring LSL back into the Wallabies team until the Argentina Tests during the TRC.

However, the dynamic of the Wallabies’ locking stocks is not as black and white as a shoot-out between these massive second rowers; there is nuance, which shows why this EOYT is so crucial for LSL.

Aside from Skelton, Schmidt has preferred mobile, work-rate-focused second-rowers like Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams.

Both these players hit plenty of rucks, are technique-perfect in their tasks, and chop tackle very effectively, as well as typically getting penalised very rarely.

Where LSL has commonly deviated from these two is the accuracy of his technique in the carry and tackle, and his regular penalties.

Where he deviates the most from Skelton is his ability to impact the breakdown. Skelton is a master of breakdown disruption; very few players in the world can slow an opposition ruck like Skelton, and rarely does he get penalised for it.

There is no doubt LSL has shown improvement in this area in 2025, and he regularly played 70-minutes-plus against the Lions. He has also improved his technique in the carry and tackle.

The Wallabies need LSL’s bulk, gainline carries, as well as his key asset over Skelton, his experience at the lineout, where he is a constant safe target and threat to opposition ball.

This small but crucial window ahead of Skelton’s reunion with the group, most likely later in the tour, must see LSL bring all these skills together in a couple of flawless performances.

LSL is the Wallabies’ most capped lock on tour; all that experience must now shine through, because he has not yet convinced Schmidt that he is a necessity in run-on XV in Skelton’s absence, but what is certain is that the Wallabies have lacked punch when the giant pair of locks have been off the field.

Aidan Ross, loosehead prop No.1

When James Slipper retired, the Wallabies lost irreplaceable experience and knowledge of the scrum’s dark arts, as well as a player who was in some career-best form.

Although Ross may as well be the younger Kiwi version of Slipper, it is yet to be seen how he will do at the Test level in Slipper’s stead.

The 100-cap Waikato Chief and two-cap All Balck who has signed a two-year deal with the Queensland Reds is an astute scummager and is just as rugged as the man he has replaced.

The 30-year-old is entering his prime scrummaging years, and this is likely why Schmidt has picked the experienced campaigner to come into the Wallabies environment.

At 189cm and 111 kgs, he is a little taller and a few kilos lighter than the 35-year-old Slipper was in his final match, but that does not change the fact that he has massive shoes to fill.

Slipper was scrummaging so well that he kept one of the world’s best looseheads, Angus Bell, out of the starting side in the 2025 season to date, and that appears to be solely down to his scrummaging.

While Bell is an elite running threat, his scrummaging still needs work, and at the tender age of 25, which is very young for an international prop, the Wallabies require stability at the set piece.

Ross now has the opportunity to stake a strong claim for the No.1 jersey, because although Schmidt has regularly turned to hardworking Tom Robertson to fill the jersey when Slipper has been absent, he has yet to have a dominant scrummaging performance in the gold jersey in 2025.

If Ross can best his opponents in the scrum, thump opposition in the rucks, and offer a dependable, tough carry game, he could quickly shoot into one of the first names on the Wallabies team list.

There is a host of up-and-coming loosehead props: Lington Ieli, Blake Schoupp from the Brumbies, Marley Pearce from the Western Force, Isaac Aedo Kailea, Tom Lambert from the Waratahs, but none who are experienced and dependable performers yet.

While Ross must seize his moment, reframed, it’s actually the Wallabies who need Ross to be ready to dominate at Test level.

For without a dominant and in-form Ross, the Wallabies’ scrum, which has been so dependable and a great launching pad in 2025, could become a weakness for others to exploit. It’s a part of the Wallabies’ game that, because of their inconsistency, is too precious for them to lose at present.