Teddy Wilson and Tom Lambert earn places in Wallabies spring tour squad
Two players who have yet to play a Test for Australia are headed to Europe with the Wallabies this November. Teddy Wilson and Tom Lambert are both uncapped, a term for players who have not yet pulled on the national jersey in a Test match. Coach Les Kiss named them in a 33-man squad on Friday.
The tour is four Tests, starting in London on 9 November. The Wallabies play England, Scotland and Wales, and a fourth opponent yet to be decided. Those matches fall into the Nations Championship, the new annual competition for the world's leading teams, and the first finals weekend is the one this tour leads into. The Guardian reports the full list of fixtures and the new faces in the group.
Wilson is a New South Wales scrumhalf and a former Australian under-20s captain. The scrumhalf, also called the No 9, takes the ball from the forwards and feeds it to the backs, and he often sets the tempo of an attack. His father, David Wilson, was part of the Wallabies side that won the 1999 World Cup and earned 79 caps. Wilson replaces Kalani Thomas as the third No 9 in the group. Thomas is playing for Australia A against the United States.
Wilson is not expected to take the starting spot. Ryan Lonergan is established as the standout No 9, and Wilson is set to push Tate McDermott for the role of back-up. It is a squad place built on competition for minutes, not a guaranteed run in the Test side.
Lambert is a junior loosehead prop from New South Wales, one of the two front-row forwards who anchor the scrum. He will join the Queensland Reds this season. He comes into the squad in place of Aidan Ross, who started for Australia against New Zealand in Sydney.
There are also several returns and omissions. Flyhalf Carter Gordon is back in the group after recovering from a fractured leg, and he is named alongside Ben Donaldson and Declan Meredith. Hunter Paisami, who plays in Japan, is included after missing the Bledisloe Cup, the long-running series against New Zealand, through suspension for a high tackle. Lock Miles Amatosero is in the squad and will also play for Australia A in the United States.
Not everyone made the cut. Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, who came off the bench on debut in Sydney, has been left out. Fullback Jock Campbell is also not in the group. Gordon's return came after McLaughlin-Phillips was called into the squad in September in his place, so the flyhalf picture has changed twice in a matter of weeks.
The squad will assemble in Sydney on Wednesday, and the tour will then carry the group to London for the first Test. For Wilson and Lambert, the next step is the first cap, and for the rest of the group, the job is to make sure the set-piece and the ruck, the contest for the ball on the ground after a tackle, hold up against four teams in a row.
