{"id":770148,"date":"2026-09-14T07:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T07:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/770148\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T07:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T07:54:12","slug":"wallabies-veterans-miss-out-as-les-kiss-selects-new-face-for-springboks-test-australia-rugby-union-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/770148\/","title":{"rendered":"Wallabies veterans miss out as Les Kiss selects new face for Springboks Test | Australia rugby union team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wallabies coach Les Kiss has praised the potential impact of veteran flyhalves James O\u2019Connor and Bernard Foley, but called for them to play Super Rugby games before they will be considered for selection after elevating 22-year-old five eighth Harry McLaughlin-Phillips for the clash against South Africa in Perth in two weeks.<\/p>\n

Ben Donaldson and Declan Meredith have retained their places in the squad following the series victory in Argentina, but the broken leg suffered by Carter Gordon<\/a> created a place at No 10.<\/p>\n

Western Force\u2019s McLaughlin-Phillips beat the likes of fit-again Tom Lynagh and Japan-based Noah Lolesio for the spot, given 37-year-old Foley and 36-year-old O\u2019Connor have only recently signed deals to return to Super Rugby clubs next season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know experience stands for a lot, without a doubt. I think the experience that we do have in [Foley and O\u2019Connor], we\u2019d like to see them play some games, and they\u2019ll get plenty of opportunity,\u201d Kiss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at experience, you can pull them in at any time and they\u2019ll really get on page straight away, and we know what we get from them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead, Kiss has turned to the uncapped McLaughlin-Phillips, who has played for the Junior Wallabies and joined the Western Force this year after four years at the Queensland Reds, including three seasons under Kiss.<\/p>\n

McLaughlin-Phillips matched up against Lynagh in Super Rugby Aus on the weekend, in the latter\u2019s return to action following a year beset by injuries.<\/p>\n

The Force came back to win 29-28 after Lynagh was substituted at half-time, as he works his way back to fitness.<\/p>\n

\u201c[McLaughlin-Phillips] is the most battle-hardened of all of the options,\u201d Kiss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he played very well on the weekend in the Force\u2019s victory over the Reds, so we just felt that he was the right option to come in. I know Harry well, he also knows a lot of the nuances of the game that I do like, so I think he\u2019s earned that right to be selected into the squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harry McLaughlin-Phillips is one of three changes to the Wallabies squad that won the Argentina series. Photograph: Pat Hoelscher\/AAP<\/p>\n

Donaldson, at 27 and with 25 caps, will be the most experienced option at No 10<\/a> for the squad set to face the world champion Springboks. Meredith has played just three tests.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThose younger guys, we\u2019re trying to make sure we get them upskilled, [have] them understand how they can lead the game and drive it forward,\u201d Kiss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of the thinking was ensuring that those guys can have a bit of blue sky and make sure they take the team and the game forward the way that we\u2019d like to. And we know that we can always, always lean back into the experience if we need to.\u201d<\/p>\n

McLaughlin-Phillips is one of three new faces in the squad that secured Australia a series win in Argentina<\/a> for the first time. Prop Zane Nonggorr has recovered from a calf injury and will replace Massimo de Lutiis, and outside back Jordan Petaia \u2013 who could play his first match for the Wallabies in three years \u2013 is in for Filipo Daugunu.<\/p>\n

Petaia, once seen as rugby\u2019s brightest talent and still just 26, has returned to rugby after pursuing a career in American football, and he has been playing for Urayasu D-Rocks in Japan.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has played in two World Cups, we just wanted to have a \u2018touch-base\u2019 with him, him come and work out with us, see how he\u2019s going,\u201d Kiss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a good opportunity to see Jordan back in the environment and for him to have a good look at us with the new coaching structure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wallabies coach Les Kiss has praised the potential impact of veteran flyhalves James O\u2019Connor and Bernard Foley, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":770149,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-770148","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770148","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770148"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770148\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/770149"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770148"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770148"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770148"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}