Joe Schmidt’s hopes of beefing up his wobbling Wallabies have suffered a massive blow as Will Skelton has been ruled out of the tour-closing matches versus Ireland and France.

The gigantic second-row was unavailable to play for Australia in their November 1 clash with England in London as that match fell outside the regulation nine player release window.

However, rather than send an SOS to get Skelton involved for last weekend’s match versus Italy, which the Wallabies would have been entitled to do as it was the first weekend in the three-weekend window, Schmidt decided to allow the forward to stay with La Rochelle and feature in their Top 14 match away to Toulon.

That fixture had been postponed at the last-minute in September due to the weather and it was rescheduled for November 8, the same day the Wallabies would be in Udine to take on the Italians.

Miscalculated

Schmidt miscalculated in believing he could do without Skelton in Italy, as Australia were beaten 26-19, and the sour taste of that loss has now been compounded with the revelation that the lock was injured playing for La Rochelle and has been ruled out of the Test matches in Dublin and Paris.

Skelton was a nuisance for Andy Farrell when the Ireland boss was in charge of the recent British and Irish Lions tour, causing them multiple problems in Melbourne and Sydney with his trademark physicality.

Despite the loss of the 32-year-old to an ankle injury, the Wallabies confirmed they were happy to allow Darcy Swain to leave the tour and head home to Australia after providing cover for their recent matches.

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In other team news, Schmidt also confirmed the call-up of the now England-based James O’Connor. The 35-year-old featured in five of his country’s six recent Rugby Championship matches, ending his spell in the Test rugby wilderness since 2022.

The player release window meant the new Leicester player was unavailable for the England match, even though he spent that Saturday working at Twickenham in a corporate function role. He then provided TV punditry last Saturday from TNT Sports studios in London, but has now been called back into the Wallabies set-up.

Since O’Connor’s last appearance for the Wallabies, away to New Zealand in Auckland in September, Schmidt selected Tane Edmed as his No.10 versus the All Blacks in Perth, Japan in Tokyo and England in London before going with Carter Gordon against Italy following his recent return to union after a switch to rugby league.

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A Wallabies statement read: “James O’Connor has joined the squad in Dublin to help them prepare for the Test against Ireland on Saturday.

“Will Skelton picked up an ankle injury playing for his club on Saturday and will be unavailable for the team’s final two Tests of 2025.

“Darcy Swain has returned to Australia, having joined the group as second row to cover the past two Tests.”

Ireland, meanwhile, have confirmed they are enduring their own injury headaches in the build-up to hosting the Wallabies as full-back Jamie Osborne has been ruled out with a shoulder problem.

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