Wallabies handed major boost with star duo cleared for second Lions Test

Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed Will Skelton and Rob Valetini will both be available to face the British & Irish Lions next Saturday in Melbourne, after the two were scrubbed out ahead of the first Test in Brisbane with niggly injuries.

Skelton was put up for media on Monday ahead of the Lions Series opener, with the La Rochelle lock telling reporters he was “raring to go” for the Test at Suncorp Stadium. After missing the Fiji Test in Newcastle, all signs seemed to point towards Skelton’s return to the Test arena.

Valetini was another headline-grabbing omission from the side to take on the Flying Fijians, with the No. 8 suffering a calf injury. The two-time reigning John Eales Medallist was replaced by Langi Gleeson, who would also end up missing the first Test against the Lions.

Rassie Erasmus assesses the Bok Test vs Georgia and the way forward

Rassie Erasmus assesses the Bok Test vs Georgia and the way forward

David Porecki and Noah Lolesio were also ruled out. Coach Schmidt turned to debutant Nick Champion de Crespigny in place of Valetini at blindside flanker, while the locking duo of Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams were named in the absence of Skelton.

The Wallabies have still never beaten the Lions in Brisbane, losing Saturday’s clash 19-27 with more than 52,000 fans watching on. But the Wallabies will receive a big boost for the second Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with Skelton and Valetini set to be back in the mix.

“Rob’s fit. Rob is fit, Will Skelton’s fit. They both trained really well this morning but we didn’t know if that was going to be close enough to game time or not,” Schmidt told reporters.

“We worked on the premise that we’re excited about Nick Champion de Crespigny stepping in and I think Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams, they served us really well last year, and they’re both… young men, mid-20s. They’ve got their best locking days ahead of them.

“Every time they get an opportunity in the Test arena like this, where the pressure is what it is, that’s a growth opportunity for them.”

While both men will almost certainly come straight back into the run-on side, the efforts of the players named to start against the Lions in Brisbane can’t be overlooked completely, with Champion de Crespigny working supremely hard on debut.

Champion de Crespigny was called on immediately in that Test, taking the opening kick-off cleanly while Lions players applied plenty of pressure. The Western Force backrower went on to top the tackle count for the Wallabies, finishing with 17 in a 66-minute shift.

Frost played the full 80 minutes at No. 4 lock, while Williams put in a 58-minute shift at Suncorp Stadium. With Tom Lynagh also impressing on his starting debut in the No. 10 jersey, there are a lot of talking points, but Champion de Crespigny’s debut is one of the positives.

“Nick Champion de Crespigny, jeez he’s a workaholic and he’s tough, tough character,” Schmidt explained post-game.

“It was a really good starting point for him. He loved it actually, the tougher it gets the more he loves it.

“I was really proud of the way he acquitted himself in terms of very short runup. He’d never played for us before. He had a bit of time to spend with the team in the lead-up to the Fiji Test.

“I think we’d had one Test in the last eight months. It’s going to take a little bit of time for us to get a bit of rhythm.”