(The good news after Japan is both Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Josh Canham have remained on tour, despite both locks leaving the field on Saturday)
The twist in the tale is that apart from Skelton, who’ll be playing for La Rochelle, the Exeter duo of Ikitau and Hooper, and O’Connor, all have the weekend off.
James O’Connor of Leicester Tigers takes on Bath’s Finn Russell. Credit: Getty Images
The Premiership has paused for a month, allowing a full England squad to be released for national duties. The scheduling co-operation is via the “Professional Game Agreement” between the RFU and England’s powerful clubs, in which the RFU pay tens of millions of pounds to the clubs for access to elite players for all Test duties and preparations. Last year the RFU even began partially contracting top Test players.
It allows England to stage a full-blooded Test match outside the three-week Reg 9 window, filling Twickenham and making piles of money.
But the system doesn’t extend as far as any clubs having to let rival players in the Premiership play in those same Tests. Ikitau, Hooper and O’Connor (and Skelton) will only be free to join Wallabies camp the day after they play England in London.
None of this will concern a soul inside England rugby, of course. And it’s a curly situation for Australia that may soon be resolved, with the arrival of the Rugby Nations Championship next year set to see the reg 9 window in November extended to four weeks, to accommodate a weekend of finals.
Loading
But this weekend’s absentees will provide a broader lesson, of sorts, for Rugby Australia and future Wallabies coaches about the downsides of having top players be based overseas in the future.
The recent shift in policy from RA that the “Giteau Law” is effectively dead, and that Wallabies coaches can pick from overseas if they need to, will eventually see growing numbers head offshore. Not immediately, given the Lions tour and the 2027 World Cup have served as valuable anchors. But come 2028 you can expect a wave of departures.
RA isn’t overly worried. It can allow some big stars to have their expensive salaries paid by a third-party, but still be available for Australia.
And that sounds good in theory. But as seen with Ikitau, Hooper and O’Connor, when you outsource the pay cheque, you also lose control. The Wallabies will have to get good at building depth and get good at solid workarounds when it comes to playing Tests outside the World Rugby’s release windows.
Or, as they’ll do this week, just get good at copping it sweet.
Watch all the action from the 2025 Wallabies spring tour on Stan Sport
