SYDNEY (AP) — Jock Campbell has been selected for his first test since 2022 and will start at fullback for Australia’s Nations Championship opener against Ireland at a sold-out Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday.Campbell will link with 21-year-old Max Jorgensen and Dylan Pietsch in a revamped back three for the Wallabies. Ryan Lonergan and Carter Gordon will form the halves pairing to start.Campbell’s Queensland Reds teammate Josh Canham has been selected to make his first test start, partnering Western Force lock Jeremy Williams in the second row. No. 8 Harry Wilson was retained as skipper.Head coach Joe Schmidt also picked 151-test veteran prop James Slipper on the bench. Slipper announced last month that he was coming out of retirement and planned to make an international comeback. “The group has reconnected quickly and we’ve worked hard over the past week to prepare as best we can for what is an exciting challenge against the No. 3 team in world rugby,” Schmidt said in the squad announcement Thursday.
The Sydney test will mark the start of the end of Schmidt’s coaching era at the Wallabies and close to the beginning of the Les Kiss era. Under Schmidt, the Wallabies were winless in their tour to Britain late last year.
