Wallabies to deploy new halves combination against Ireland

The Wallabies are set to deploy a halves combination who have not played together, with Carter Gordon and Ryan Lonergan given the nod in the crucial playmaker roles for the year’s opening Test against Ireland.

The Wallabies will begin their season on Saturday at a sold-out Allianz Stadium against a strong Irish team, who are ranked No.3 in the world and are aiming to win a sixth consecutive game against Australia.

Ahead of an unusual handover to Les Kiss, Joe Schmidt is entering the last month of his tenure as Wallabies coach and he will name a relatively settled team to face Ireland, according to informed sources who are unable to speak publicly.

The merry-go-round of the Wallabies No.10 position is set to continue, however, with Gordon beating Ben Donaldson to the job. Both players enjoyed strong Super Rugby seasons, with the Reds and Force respectively.

It will be the third different starting Wallabies five-eighth in as many Tests. But Gordon’s selection is as close to continuity as possible, with incumbent Tane Edmed and James O’Connor – the man who played No.10 against Ireland on the spring tour last year – both having missed this squad.

Gordon, who switched back from the NRL club the Gold Coast Titans in October, played in the Wallabies’ loss to Italy on the second game of that tour, but suffered a quad injury.

The 25-year-old was selected to play in the Wallabies’ last game of the tour against France but was ruled out on Test eve, after tweaking the same injury while kicking. Edmed was called up to start.

Donaldson was not selected in the tour squad but is set to return on the bench against Ireland in Sydney.

Lonergan is tipped to make his starting debut for the Wallabies after the 28-year-old debuted last year, and played six Tests from the bench.

Incumbent Wallabies halfback Jake Gordon was ruled out after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon injury in the last round of Super Rugby, leaving a choice between Lonergan and Tate McDermott.

McDermott played three games for the Reds this season, however, after suffering from a serious hamstring injury in a Bledisloe Cup clash in Auckland last September.

Lonergan’s kicking game, in general play and off the tee, likely got him the nod to start ahead of McDermott, who has preferred as a finishing bench weapon by Schmidt for much of the last two years. The absence of the dynamic Queenslander was under-recognised on the Wallabies’ winless spring tour, when the Wallabies were in the fight at halftime in each match but fell away late.

Lonergan and Gordon have not played a minute together, however. The pair were in the same squad in the Italy Test but Gordon came off injured before Lonergan was used off the bench.

The lack of combination will bleed into the midfield, too, where Len Ikitau is expected to return and partner Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.

While those two have played plenty of rugby as a partnership, Gordon and Ikitau have only played a handful of minutes together for the Wallabies, in 2023. Gordon replaced Ikitau from the bench when the latter broke his shoulder in a loss to Argentina. Ikitau was later one of a number of stars overlooked by Eddie Jones for the World Cup.

Gordon then departed for the NRL in 2024, and Ikitau wasn’t selected for Carter’s one comeback Test against Italy on last year’s tour.

Lonergan shapes as the probable goal kicker for the Wallabies, given he does the job for the Brumbies. Gordon began kicking in the last few games for Queensland and is solid enough, but the No.10 is not as experienced as Lonergan.

Asked on Monday if he would take on the goalkicking, Lonergan said: “Typically it gets spoken about a bit later in the week, but yeah, I’d be happy to do that.

“The 10s were kicking as well and so not sure, we’ll see what happens.”

Now an experienced 28-year-old, who has 108 Super Rugby games under his belt, Lonergan said he was returning to the Wallabies feeling far more comfortable.

“Coming back in this year, I’ve got a bit more confidence knowing that I’ve got a bit of time under my belt now,” Lonergan said.

“I had a lot of exposure this year, you know, I played a lot of minutes and … I started to see the game pretty well. I’d say that that’s probably the biggest thing I noticed was just how comfortable I felt out there and that sort of seems to slow down a little bit for you when you’ve spent a lot of time on the pitch.”