Grim Wallaby World Cup won't diminish 'pride' of debut for Perese

At least someone is smiling in the Wallabies camp with Izaia Perese beaming after finally earning a call-up for their last Rugby World Cup pool clash against Portugal.

After a grim pool run, with Australia’s only victory in three games coming in their opening match against Georgia, coach Eddie Jones has opted for a NSW Waratahs centre combination in Perese and Lalakai Foketi.

With Perese making his first appearance of the tournament, the pair have replaced Samu Kerevi and Jordan Petaia, who have started in all three matches including record losses to Wales and Fiji.

“I’m excited; it’s part of footy and if you don’t get to play, you don’t get to play and you’ve got to do your very best to prepare the team for that week,” Perese said.

“But this week I finally get an opportunity so I’m just thinking about doing my job for the boys and you know, putting a lot of pride into that jersey for everyone back home as well.”

While his talent was never in question, the 26-year-old has had a rocky road to the World Cup stage.

He switched between rugby and rugby league, where he played two NRL games for Brisbane, faced a drug charge back in 2019 and battled depression.

Injuries have also limited his Test career to just five caps.

“It’s a huge ‘pinch myself moment’, I’ve definitely come a long way,” Perese said.

“But all I’m thinking about right now is doing a job on the weekend and that’s about it.”

As well as Perese and Foketi, five-eighth Ben Donaldson and winger Mark Nawaqanitawase all play for NSW in the Super Rugby Pacific competition and Perese hoped their backline combination could reap rewards against Portugal.

The Australians take on the world No.16 in Saint-Etienne on Sunday (Monday 2.45am AEDT) looking to salvage something from their France campaign.

“Most definitely – we’ve trained really well together this week and there’s a lot of familiarity with Donno (Donaldson) and La (Foketi) having the opportunity to play three years together,” Perese said.

“We trust each other, we’ve grown together over the three years so hopefully after the week we’ve had, on Sunday we can change things up and do the best we can.”