Will Skelton and Jake Gordon to start for Wallabies in second Bledisloe clash in Perth

  • Coach Joe Schmidt makes five changes to XV for final Rugby Championship Test

  • James Slipper to play 151st and final game after announcing retirement

Lock Will Skelton and scrumhalf Jake Gordon are among five changes to Australia’s starting 15 for the final Rugby Championship Test against New Zealand in Perth on Saturday.

Skelton replaces the dropped Lukhan Salakaia-Loto after returning from club duty in France, while coach Joe Schmidt’s preferred No 9 Gordon returns for his first test since the British & Irish Lions series after recovering from a hamstring strain.

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James O’Connor retained for Wallabies’ crunch Tests against All Blacks

  • Flyhalf included despite flying to England to join new club Leicester

  • Coach Joe Schmidt’s preferred scrumhalf Jake Gordon returns

James O’Connor has been retained in Australia’s squad for back-to-back Rugby Championship Tests against New Zealand despite flying to England on Monday to join his new club Leicester.

O’Connor’s inclusion denies Western Force playmaker Ben Donaldson a recall following his recovery from a thigh injury, with coach Joe Schmidt opting for Tom Lynagh and Tane Edmed as his other flyhalf options in the 34-man squad named on Thursday.

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Captain Harry Wilson returns as Wallabies make tweaks for crucial Argentina Test

  • Flyhalf Tom Lynagh also returns; Nic White keeps place

  • James O’Connor to come off bench in Townsville on Saturday

Nic White’s retirement tour will continue in Townsville when the halfback partners returning Wallabies flyhalf Tom Lynagh and captain Harry Wilson against Argentina.

Andrew Kellaway has won the battle to fill the injured Tom Wright’s boots at fullback at Queensland Country Bank Stadium on Saturday in the other change to the side that lost narrowly in Cape Town a fortnight ago.

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Pollard shines as South Africa bounce back to beat Australia in Rugby Championship

  • South Africa 30-22 Australia

  • Springboks avenge shock loss to Wallabies

Handré Pollard put in a commanding performance at fly-half as a more pragmatic South Africa beat Australia in their second Rugby Championship Test in Cape Town to reignite the defence of their title.

Australia stunned the world champions 38-22 in their competition opener in Johannesburg last Saturday as the hosts tried to play an expansive gameplan with ball in hand and were picked off. This time round they turned it into an aerial contest, marshalled superbly by Pollard, who kicked 15 points to go with tries by the wing Canan Moodie, the No 8 Kwagga Smith and the lock Eben Etzebeth.

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Corey Toole given debut as Wallabies try for back-to-back wins against Springboks

  • Winger starts as Australia bid for historic win in Cape Town

  • Rob Valetini and Tom Robertson also come in

Corey Toole will make his Test debut in one of three changes to the Wallabies starting side as they attempt to go back-to-back against the Springboks in South Africa for the first time since 1963.

The 25-year-old Paris Olympics sevens star will replace injured winger Dylan Pietsch for their Rugby Championship clash in Cape Town on Saturday night local time (Sunday 1.10am AEST).

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Wallabies break South Africa’s aura of invincibility in win that asks: is Australian rugby back?

Joe Schmidt’s side turned a 22-point deficit into a first win at Ellis Park since 1963. If this is a redrafting of the story, then the sport will be better off

For 18 minutes, everything was going according to script. The double world champions were running riot at Ellis Park, stomping over the gain line with every carry, shrugging off tacklers and hammering anyone unlucky enough to be wearing a gold jersey.

Australia had touched the ball twice before Kurt-Lee Arendse scored the opening try; once when James O’Connor kicked off, then again when Tom Wright spilled a contestable kick. Twelve minutes later André Esterhuizen sliced through the right before Siya Kolisi bulldozed over under the posts. Manie Libbok kicked seven extra points to nudge the score to 22-0 in South Africa’s favour. We’d not yet reached the quarter mark of this one-sided contest.

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Wilson double sparks remarkable Australia comeback win to stun South Africa

  • South Africa 22-38 Australia

  • Wallabies recover from 22-0 down to sink Springboks

Australia rallied from 22-0 down as Harry Wilson, their captain, scored two tries in a stunning 38-22 bonus-point victory over South Africa in their Rugby Championship opener on Saturday, the Wallabies’ first victory at Ellis Park in Johannesburg since 1963.

South Africa raced into a seemingly commanding lead through tries by the wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, the centre André Esterhuizen and the No 8 Siya Kolisi, but their achilles heel has been the breakdown and it was there that Australia began to take control.

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South Africa 22-38 Australia: Rugby Championship Test – as it happened

A Harry Wilson double inspires an Australian comeback with 38 unanswered points from 0-22 down to win in Johannesburg for the first time since 1963 .

What a start for the Springboks! It started with Wright fumbling a Williams box kick and then it was all momentum. Just about every player was involved. Du Toit, Kolisi and more had strong carries until the cracks opened. Fassie joined from fullback to play the final pass to his left where Arendse had a simple run in. That move went several phases and 70 metres.

Libbok nails the conversion from the left.

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Wallabies recall veteran James O’Connor at No 10 for South Africa showdown

  • Return for 35-year-old after three-year absence

  • Blow as Ben Donaldson ruled out of Johannesburg clash

Veteran James O’Connor has been called on to take on the playmaking duties as the Wallabies seek to build on the impetus of their third Test win over the Lions with a rare victory in South Africa at the start of the Rugby Championship.

But a plan for the 35-year-old O’Connor, back in the green and gold after three years, to share the No 10 role has had to be shelved after Ben Donaldson went down injured in training on Thursday.

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What happened to the rugby league Lions – and could they be revived?

While Andy Farrell’s team are winning matches and fans in Australia, the league Lions remain in hibernation

By No Helmets Required

If the British & Irish Lions complete a clean sweep against the Wallabies on Saturday in Sydney, there will be more talk of Australia no longer being a sufficiently challenging destination for a Lions tour. It’s a mirror image of what has happened to the rugby league Lions over the past 15 years, with Australia deciding that neither Great Britain nor England brought the jeopardy, ticket sales or eyeballs required to justify an incoming tour. Instead, the Kangaroos will visit London, Liverpool and Leeds later this year to play England.

It has been 33 years since Great Britain toured Australia. Martin Offiah lit up that series in 1992, scoring seven tries in six Tests against Papua New Guinea, Australia and New Zealand. Offiah, who won 33 caps for Great Britain, as well as five for England, cannot believe the Rugby Football League and Australian Rugby League have allowed these showcase events to fade from view. “As a nation we’ve got to have regular fixtures against Australia,” says Offiah. “Not playing them since the World Cup final in 2017 is crazy. When you’re trying to get across that bridge and match them, that’s a massive gap. And we should have been Great Britain for this series – then gone back to England for the World Cup.”

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The Breakdown | If Lions complete Australia rout, clamour for tour of France will grow

It may open the Lions to accusations of parochialism, but there is a compelling case for staying in Europe

It may be too early to start asking existential questions about the British & Irish Lions but, sitting in Melbourne’s Southbank, slap bang in the middle of Aussie rules territory, where union makes barely a ripple, you begin to wonder. The sea of red will roll in at the weekend but, for now, Melbourne is pretty much oblivious. “Some kind of carnival on I think,” was one taxi driver’s assessment.

None of this is to criticise Australia. It is a wonderful country, sports mad and as the loosehead prop James Slipper says of the locals: “They’re still Australian, so they’ll be there. I know they’ll be there. It’s one thing about this country, regardless of the sport, they’ll get behind the national colours.”

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