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Experienced Brumbies assistant coach Rod Seib will oversee the Australia XV to take on England A and Bristol in November – and the two fixtures could be used to reintroduce NRL star Joseph Suaalii after switching codes.
The Roar can reveal Seib will be joined on his coaching team by former Fiji and Melbourne Rebels assistant Brad Harris (defence) and highly regarded Reds assistant Zane Hilton (forwards).
Although the fixtures aren’t officially a part of the Wallabies’ grand slam Spring Tour, some of Joe Schmidt’s men could still feature in the two Australia XV fixtures that will be played ahead of the Scotland and Ireland Tests.
The Roar understands a 34-man Wallabies squad will be announced next month with another 30 to head to the UK for two Australia XV fixtures against Bristol (November 9 AEDT) and England A (November 18 AEDT). It’s believed another couple of players from the Australia XV squad will join the Wallabies at the midway point of the tour.
The massive touring party comes after Rugby Australia chairman Daniel Herbert revealed on The Roar Rugby podcast that 64 players would head to the UK.
Joe Schmidt is expected to name a 34-man Wallabies squad for the Spring Tour and another 30-man squad for the Australia XV fixtures. (Photo by Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images)
The squads aren’t expected to be named for a couple of weeks, but Schmidt indicated following Saturday’s second Bledisloe Cup loss to the All Blacks he would use the six-week break between Tests to determine whether he had the right men at his disposal.
“As a group of coaches, we’re pretty hard on ourselves,” said Schmidt after he was asked whether he thought the Wallabies were heading in the right direction despite the poor results in The Rugby Championship.
“Are we managing to get what we need from the group, and have we got the right group?
“So, there’s a number of things we’ll reflect on but there are a number of positives over the last four weeks and even the last two weeks against the All Blacks.
Of particular interest is which squad Suaalii – the former Australian Schoolboys star, who signed with the Roosters out of high school and featured for NSW in the State of Origin in 2024 – will be selected in.
Technically the departing Roosters back is contracted until October 30, but it’s expected he will be granted an early release to allow him to start training with his new teammates in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, it’s believed training hubs in Brisbane and Sydney will be set up to allow players across the country to prepare for the four end-of-year Tests.
Joseph Suaalii could feature for the Australian XV before being promoted into the Wallabies squad. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
After Suaalii scooped Schmidt by saying he was going on the end-of-year tour, the first-year Wallabies coach made no promises the $1.5 million back would indeed be on the plane to London.
“Yeah, I was interested that Joseph mentioned that,” Schmidt told reporters at Sky Stadium on Saturday.
“I haven’t spoken to him directly yet because I wanted to leave him to play for the Roosters. Obviously they played last night and were knocked out by the Melbourne Storm.
“So Joseph, now, we will potentially have a conversation. We’ve just got to wait for the powers to be to deem that he’s available to us and then, you know, post-that, he’ll be a guy that we’ll have a conversation with for sure.”
In light of his hefty price tag, which was signed off by former RA chairman Hamish McLennan last year, it would be a massive surprise he wasn’t taken on the tour, especially given the tour shapes as the final opportunity for Schmidt to get his hands on Suaalii before the Wallabies host the Lions next year.
“He’s obviously coming across to rugby and we’d be pretty happy to have him,” Schmidt added.
“He’s a good athlete and a good player and he kicks well – goal kicks. Having said that I felt Noah (Lolesio) kicked well tonight.”
The decision to send so many players abroad has raised eyebrows from the four Super Rugby franchises.
Although everyone in the rugby community acknowledges its players need to play more, the fact so many – more than a starting XV from each of the four Super Rugby franchises could be taken – will miss a month of pre-season heading into next year’s domestic season hasn’t been met with pom poms.
It’s particularly a tough pill to swallow for Dan McKellar, who will only get his entire squad together in early January after being announced as Darren Coleman’s replacement in July.
It means the clock will be ticking ahead of the Waratahs’ February 14 season opener at Allianz Stadium.
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