29 July 2025
Good Morning G&GRs and welcome to Tuesday’s news. It was a big weekend of rugby and Bris covered it in the Monday News which you can find here.
There’s plenty of news coming out of the Wallabies camp about injuries to key players, and others being drafted into the squad ahead of the third test match. There’s been endless commentary about the way the match finished, which I’m not going to repeat or reprise here. And because it’s Tuesday, we’ll do player ratings and look forward to the squad and team that might be picked for the third test.
Wallaroos honesty
First up, there’s a good article by Nathan Williamson here describing how the Wallaroos are disappointed with how they played against Wales at Ballymore on the weekend. Desiree Miller in particular was hard on their performance saying: “It was pretty tough to watch, and it definitely doesn’t reflect what we’ve been working on the last few months, particularly the last month,” the winger said.
“It’s just upsetting to see that we couldn’t put out on the field what we’ve been working so hard for, and fortunately enough we have this next round versus Wales again to rectify that and produce a result we’re happy with to build some confidence especially leading into the World Cup in a couple of weeks. It wasn’t acceptable what we produced and we’re looking to really rectify that and produce a better result, because that’s not who we are.”
I watched the mini match on Saturday before the Lions test and the Wallaroos looked out of sorts and to quote Hoss “they’ll be making up the numbers at the World Cup”. I don’t necessarily agree with that because in their better games this year they’ve been very good, so hopefully they can turn it around and put in an improved performance and secure a strong victory in the return match this Friday at North Sydney oval.
Wallabies updates
News out of the Wallabies squad is that the Wallabies will be without Allan Alaalatoa for a while as he suffered a pectoral injury that led to his replacement at half time. News is he’ll be out for the Rugby Championship and may need surgery if the injury doesn’t respond to rest and recovery. 7As has been in great form in the scrum, and around the park, so we at G&GR wish him well in his recovery and hope he’ll be back on the field soon. Aidan Ross has been drafted into the squad as cover.
Harry Potter is reported to be out with a hamstring injury, so there’ll changes in the backline as well. There was talk last week about picking Paisami at 12, moving Ikitau to 13, and JAS at 14, with Jorgo and Wright making up the back three. Seems like good choices, or move JAS to the bench and pick Paisami and Dylan Pietsch in the starting side. That could leave Tate, Dono, and JAS on the bench. Either way, there will be options of for the coaches to choose from.
No definitive news about Rob Valetini and whether he’ll be fit to play this week after being subbed off at half time. Let’s hope so, he was good in the second test, and if fit, will be better in the third test.
Wallaby player ratings
It’s a Tuesday after a Wallabies Test match, so it’s time for some player ratings. These are my thoughts based on my recollections from Saturday night, and rewatching the ball in play replay on Stan on Sunday.
The Wallabies were certainly better, unfortunate with injury to Potter given the 6:2 bench, and almost won a very good test match against the Lions. So here goes, just a reminder of the G&GR scoring system.
10 – A legendary performance to go down in the history books
9 – Outstanding performance: Man of the match shoo-in
8 – Excellent all-round game
7 – Good game with a few sparkles
6 – Solid performance
5 – Average – a pass mark
4 – Below par
3 – Had a bad game
2 – Tell your story walking pal
1 – A complete joke
0 – Didn’t make it on, or no meaningful involvement
Wallabies v British and Irish Lions – Match 2.
- James Slipper – The age defying prop keeps on putting in solid performances, including holding up his side of the scrum, and scoring the Wallabies first try. 7
- Dave Porecki – Went well in a pack that had Rob Valetini and Will Skelton. The lineout was better and the scrum was good. 6
- Allan Alaalatoa – Was good in the first half and the Wallabies will his stability and power over the coming games. Went off injured and the scrum suffered. 5
- Nick Frost – Was better than the week before, the lineout went well and he got around the field. Played the full game and made some good runs. 7
- Will Skelton – Seemed to do the job that the coach asked of him. The best game I can remember the big man play in a gold jersey. 7
- Rob Valetini – Was good in the first half with violent carries and tackles. Went off at half time, hopefully it was precautionary and he will be good to go this weekend for the final test. 6
- Fraser McReight – Wasn’t able to be as effective in terms of the turnovers from last week. But made tackles, put pressure on the opposition breakdowns and played the linking role between the forwards and the backs. Is always chasing in support when the Wallabies make a break. 6
- Harry Wilson – Gets another point from me for the way that he handled the post match interview. Another industrious game, another 80 minute performance from the skipper. Less kicking than last week :). 7.
- Jake Gordon – The best game I can remember him playing in Wallabies gold. Lots of good play including sniping from the base of the ruck to keep the defence honest, and covering tackles. Had to play the full 80 minutes after the Potter injury and Tate on to the wing. 8
- Tom Lynagh – Was generally very good, however his kicking could have been better, Missed a couple of conversions that he was making in Super Rugby. 7
- Harry Potter – Went off with a hamstring injury early and didn’t have too much chance to make an impact. Hard to judge a score out of that. 0
- Len Ikitau – A mixed bag from Ikitau, some very good play, and some missed tackles that were costly. The pairing with JAS in the centres seems to leave gaps for the Lions to exploit. 5
- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii – Also a mixed bag from JAS, looked dangerous with the ball, and his run through the defensive line to set up Tom Wright’s try was top class. Seems to be struggling with defensive structures. 5
- Max Jorgensen – Some great heads up rugby to break away after 29 minutes and set up Tom Wright to score. 7
- Tom Wright – One of his better games, and featured in a lot of the good things the Wallabies did well. His kicking was very good, and no real clangers in terms of handling and skill execution. 7
- Billy Pollard – Didn’t have the same impact around the field as last week and the scrum struggled in the second half. 5
- Angus Bell – Got some good minutes with James Slipper being subbed off. With Bobby V and Skelton also off, the Wallabies struggled to go forward and Bell would be expected to make more ground. 4
- Tom Robertson – Couldn’t deal with the pressure at scrum time, whether it was legal or not is a separate discussion, but the scrum struggled in the second half and the penalties made it easy for the Lions to march downfield. 4
- Jeremy Williams – Was solid, but struggled for impact from the bench. 4
- Langi Gleeson – Didn’t have the same impact that we saw from Bob V, but ran hard, tackled had and put in effort. 6
- Carlo Tizzano – Secured a couple of critical turnovers and got no reward for getting to the last breakdown ahead of the Lions players. 7
- Tate McDermott – Was on earlier than expected to replace Harry Potter. Looked good with the ball. 6
- Ben Donaldson – – n/a, didn’t make the field.
That’s it from me for this week, as always, thanks for taking the time to read this, and I’m keen to hear your thoughts on the team ratings and everything else throughout the day.
Cheers
RAWF.
