‘Curse of the 10 jersey’: The Wallaby considered for surprise recall

All Blacks great Dan Carter publicly backed Noah Lolesio last December as “the man” to wear the No. 10 jersey for the Wallabies at Men’s Rugby World Cup 2027, and the former ACT Brumbies pivot was in the mix for an international return this week.

Lolesio was injured ahead of the Lions Series July, replaced by Ben Donaldson during a thrilling clash with Fiji in Newcastle. They were the first two of seven players to slot in at fly-half during the Wallabies’ mammoth 15-Test season.

Carter Gordon made one appearance in the No. 10 jersey last November, suiting up against Italy in Udine after securing a return from the NRL. The Queenslander started last weekend against Ireland but has since been ruled out of the July Tests with a calf strain.

Declan Merdith is set to become Wallaby number 997 against France on Saturday evening after being named in the run-on side, while Queensland Reds fullback Jock Campbell will provide cover off the bench.

But coach Joe Schmidt revealed on Thursday that Lolesio, who wouldn’t have played for the Wallabies in 370 days when the Test kicks off on Saturday, was talked about as an option to come into the matchday 23.

“Harry McLaughlin-Phillips has trained with us all week and he’s been super. We contemplated getting hold of Noah but Noah hasn’t been with us at all,” Schmidt told reporters in Brisbane.

“We thought that Ben was still going to be okay. That was a bit of a surprise and we didn’t really get that surprise until Tuesday when he wasn’t able to train.

“I’ve been talking to [Campbell] for a while about covering 10 or 15 as a player and he did a fair bit of it this year [with the Reds] in terms of doing the kick-offs, doing the line kicking and even in the game last week, he got into that pivot position a few times.”

Meredith is now primed to become a capped Wallaby, brought straight into the starting side on debut for the national side. The playmaker captained the ACT Brumbies against Hong Kong China last year and enjoyed a breakout 2026 Super Rugby Pacific campaign.

Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham named Meredith on 14 occasions during the recent campaign, linking up with team captain Ryan Lonergan in the halves. Those two will combine once again, but this time in the Test arena, against the French in Brisbane.

“We’d love to have continuity there. It seems a curse of the 10 jersey,” Schmidt reflected.

“First year, Noah got some real continuity and I felt if you track that first year, we got some pretty steady progress. Since then, it’s tended to fluctuate as we’ve lost guys, replaced them.

“Even Carter coming off on the weekend, initially it was cramp and it was picked up on the scan that he’s got a little tear there. Nothing major but enough to keep him out of the next two games.”