‘Competitive edge’: Wallaroos coach on impact of potential debutant trio

When the Wallaroos face the USA Women’s Eagles for the first time since last year’s thriller at the Rugby World Cup, three uncapped prospects will potentially get an opportunity to make their international debuts in Kansas City.

Dillyn Blackburn, Ella Ryan and Ava Wereta have all brought their “competitive edge” into the Wallaroos environment, with interim coach Sam Needs rewarding the trio with spots on the bench for this week’s Pacific Four Series match.

Ryan started in Super Rugby Women’s with the NSW Waratahs before taking up an opportunity with the Canberra Raiders. After two years in NRLW, Ryan returned to rugby union with the ACT Brumbies ahead of the 2025 season.

The scrum-half replaces Australia Sevens representative Piper Simons on the bench, with goal-kicking ace Samantha Wood retained in the starting role. Blackburn will cover the backrow off the pine, while Wereta is an up-and-coming centre.

“Ella, Dillyn, Ava, they’ve all done really well since coming into the group. We first saw Dillyn and Ava at the end of last year, we’ve seen Ella over the last couple of years,” Needs told reporters.

“The energy that they bring in, that freshness and that really competitive edge is something that we’ve loved. It’s something that we’re really excited to see on Friday night.

“It’s really exciting. We had a couple of backrowers and we had some centres move on from the World Cup so the opportunity that both [Wereta and Blackburn] have had some coming into the group, they’re very young, they’re very excited. They haven’t had too much 15s experience at a high level, so it’s really exciting to see how much growth they’ve had.”

Needs has made four personnel changes to the Wallaroos side after last weekend’s 24-0 defeat to world no. 2 Canada in Sacramento. Tania Naden is back from a stint on the sidelines, named in the run-on side at hooker.

Kaitlan Leaney shifts from blindside flanker to lock, with captain Siokapesi Palu Sekona and Emily Chancellor lining up in the loose forwards. World Cup tackle-machine Piper Duck has been promoted to the First XV at number eight for the first time in 2026.

Michaela Leonard is in line to equal the long-held Wallaroos appearance record held by utility Ashley Marsters. If Leonard comes off the bench, it will be the second-rower’s 45^th match in a golden Wallaroos jersey.

The Wallaroos last played the USA eight months ago, holding on for a dramatic 31-all draw at York Community Stadum. That was the latest in a series of thrilling matches between the sides, who have established an exciting rivalry.

In the opening round of the Pacific Four Series, the USA trailed New Zealand by just four points at half-time. While the Black Ferns ran away with a solid win in the end, the Wallaroos understand they’ll need to be accurate in all areas to win this Test.

“There’s opportunities in all different areas. They showed some really good moments around some of their attack, something a little bit different to what we’re used to defending so that’ll be a good challenge for us,” Needs explained.

“We’re excited to get stuck into them at set-piece. We’ve had some good battles with them over the years so I know the forward pack’s really geared up for that.

“But they’ve got threats all over the park. We’ve got to make sure that we’re on in all areas if we’re going to come away with the result that we’re looking for on Friday.”