Wallaroos playmaker backs SVNS star to shine in Test arena

Wallaroos playmaker Faitala Moleka believes uncapped 15s prospect Sidney Taylor is one to watch during the Test rugby season, with the Australia Sevens representative among those looking to debut for the national team in 2026.

Interim head coach Sam Needs selected Taylor and nine other uncapped prospects in the first Wallaroos squad of 2026. Fellow HSBC SVNS Series flyer Piper Simons is another, but this squad boasts plenty of experience as well.

19 of those selected went to the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England last year, with Australia making it to the quarter-finals. The Wallaroos bowed out of the competition with a tough defeat to eventual finalists Canada at Bristol’s Ashton Gate.

The Wallaroos are just days away from their first match of the new Rugby World Cup cycle, with that tournament set to be played on home soil in 2029. It’s the dawn of a new era for the side, with Taylor and front-rower Faliki Pohiva among the players to watch this season.

Following a tough run of injuries, Taylor debuted on the world’s premier sevens circuit at SVNS Vancouver in 2024. Taylor went to the Paris Olympics as one of Australia’s two travelling reserves, but now the Queensland Reds product is focused on the Wallaroos.

“Obviously the Canberra girls. I think those girls having a home game, it just lights something inside them. They’re playing in front of their families and their friends so they’ll be fired up.” Moleka told reporters earlier this week.

“Someone in the backline, I reckon Sidney Taylor. She’s coming from the sevens [program] and she’s quick, man. I’m her inside and I don’t think I can keep up half the time. I’m excited to see her.

“Probably in the forwards, she’s been there for a while but Faliki Pohiva, she’s come back fitter, stronger. I’m keen to see what she can bring onto the field.”

The Wallaroos have assembled for two trainings camps in Canberra ahead of their first Test of the year. Australia open the 2026 season against Fiji on Friday at Canberra’s GIO Stadium, which is a double-header with ACT Brumbies versus the NSW Waratahs.

Siokapesi Palu Sekona, Piper Duck, Kaitlan Leaney, Emily Chancellor and Michaela Leonard all bring leadership experience back into the squad. It’s been more than 190 days since their last Test, but now the wait for another Wallaroos Test is almost over.

“It’s pretty calm at the moment. We’re still at the start of the week,” Moleka said.

“But pretty excited, pretty pumped but pretty calm at the moment.

“It’s been a bit different… we’d normally have our Super season before that so just having that internal game on the Saturday allowed us to get some of that game fitness going and see how we go in that game-like situation.

“The girls have been putting up a pretty good fight against each other. It’s a tough competition in here, so that’s what drives our standards. With a lot of new girls, the standards are higher, the competition is [high].

“A lot of learnings but pretty good.”