(Reuters) -Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has been forced to replace injured Marika Koroibete in his side for Australia’s final Rugby Championship test against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.
The Fiji-born winger suffered a wrist injury in the 31-28 loss to the All Blacks in Sydney last week that had swollen up on the flight over to New Zealand, Schmidt told a news conference on Thursday.
Koroibete was named Australia’s best test player in 2019 and 2022 but has looked out of sorts in the Rugby Championship and dropped a couple of simple passes in Sydney last Saturday.
Schmidt said Japan-based Koroibete’s performance had perhaps been impacted by the injury and questions over whether he would have been dropped in any case were “moot”.
“He’s still pretty quick. He still managed to open up the defences a couple of times,” he told reporters in Wellington.
“His ability to change angle, some of his handling, I think, was compromised a little bit with that wrist during the last game. So, you know, I wouldn’t put too much stock by that.”
Dylan Pietsch, the 15th indigenous Australian to play for the Wallabies, shone as a replacement at Stadium Australia as the home side fought their way back from a hefty early deficit and gets his reward with a first test start.
In other changes, Jake Gordon returns at scrumhalf in place of Nic White and Ben Donaldson comes onto the bench as backup to flyhalf Noah Lolesio in place of Tom Lynagh.
Schmidt said he had been happy with White’s performance in Sydney and the rotation was just a matter of selecting the fresher player.
“There’s certainly no one dumped,” he added. “We’ve got confidence in all three of our halfbacks. So it’s very much a best fit for any given occasion.”
James Slipper gets a rest after becoming the most capped Wallaby of all time last week with Isaac Kailea returning from injury to backup loosehead prop Angus Bell.
Australia, whose hopes of winning the Bledisloe Cup for the first time in more than two decades ended with the loss in Sydney, last beat the All Blacks in New Zealand in 2001 in Dunedin.
“We didn’t help ourselves last weekend falling behind early to a fast moving, high tempo All Blacks side,” Schmidt said.
“We know we will need to start better than we did last week, with the physical edge and accuracy required.”
Team: 15-Tom Wright, 14-Andrew Kellaway, 13-Len Ikitau, 12-Hunter Paisami, 11-Dylan Pietsch, 10-Noah Lolesio, 9-Jake Gordon, 8-Harry Wilson, 7-Fraser McReight, 6-Rob Valetini, 5-Jeremy Williams, 4-Nick Frost, 3-Taniela Tupou, 2-Matt Faessler, 1-Angus Bell
Replacements: 16-Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17-Isaac Kailea, 18-Allan Alaalatoa, 19-Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20-Langi Gleeson, 21-Tate McDermott, 22-Ben Donaldson, 23-Josh Flook.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Peter Rutherford)
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