Schmidt bats away 'devalued' England Test notion with Ikitau stuck in Prem

Joe Schmidt is refusing to complain about ‘unfair’ odds being stacked against his Wallabies in the Twickenham Test with England, despite being deprived of the chance to field some of his top players.

Australia’s coach Schmidt named a side on Thursday without overseas-based stars, including John Eales Medal winner Len Ikitau, because the match falls outside World Rugby’s three-week international window.

At the same time, England are fielding a full-strength squad on Saturday, thanks to an agreement struck between their RFU governing body and the country’s domestic league, the Premiership.

It’s led to a bizarre situation where Exeter’s Ikitau and Tom Hooper, and Leicester’s James O’Connor can’t play for Australia, but their four Premiership clubmates are all in the England 23, leading critics to say the match shouldn’t even be considered an ‘official’ Test with crucial World Rugby ranking points at stake.

Former Wales and British & Irish Lions star Dan Biggar, in the Daily Mail, called it a “slightly devalued” Test, writing: “I don’t understand why this game still contributes to ranking points.

“That means it will influence the draw for the 2027 World Cup … which doesn’t make sense to me at all.”

But the phlegmatic Schmidt brushed aside concerns at the team announcement on Thursday, saying: “We always try to favour home-based players anyway.

“It’s not really a distraction for us. It’s an opportunity. I just knew that was the case already, so it hasn’t been a distraction or frustration.

“You often get dealt a set of cards, and while you may shuffle the deck a little bit or try to steal a card from somewhere else, if those cards aren’t available, you shuffle what you’ve got and try to put out your best hand.

“And we feel that we’ve got a hand that can challenge England – but we know how good they are and that might not be enough, but we’re certainly going to give it a try.”

Asked whether Rugby Australia could have paid for the players’ release, Schmidt added: “No, I don’t think you can. While the Premiership clubs get a payout from the Rugby Football Union, there is a boundary for foreign players to be allowed to play. It wasn’t a case of paying money to get someone released.”

Still, he couldn’t resist a gentle dig at England counterpart Steve Borthwick, who’d suggested Australia had an advantage because they’d been together for four months while he had only had four sessions with his players.

“We’ve had two sessions, actually,” smiled Schmidt.

“We’ve just come from Japan, where we made 13 changes. Cohesion-wise, and also in terms of fatigue, we’ve had 15 Test matches across 22 weeks in nine countries and 10 different time zones. So I’d be happy to swap that for four trainings, to be honest!”

Tane Edmed will take the Wallabies’ playmaking reins again with Carter Gordon’s comeback on hold. Schmidt said the NRL returnee Gordon, who’d had an injury concern, had trained and “reintegrated” well with the team on Thursday and would be available for the Italy, Ireland and France Tests.

But after the hard-fought win against Japan with a very much second-string outfit, Schmidt has got most of his big guns back in action.

Tighthead prop Taniela Tupou is back in the starting side, while captain Harry Wilson is No.8 again in that powerful back row with Rob Valetini and Fraser McReight.

Waratahs teammates Jake Gordon and Edmed start in the halves for the third straight Test, while the backline features last year’s Twickenham matchwinners Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Max Jorgensen.

Wallabies team:

1 Angus Bell, 2 Billy Pollard, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Jeremy Williams, 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson; 9 Jake Gordon, 10 Tane Edmed, 11 Harry Potter, 12 Hunter Paisami, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14 Max Jorgensen, 15 Andrew Kellaway.

Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 Tom Robertson, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 21 Ryan Lonergan, 22 Hamish Stewart, 23 Filipo Daugunu.