Australia head coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed centre Joseph Suaalii is fit to face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday in the final Test of his side’s autumn tour.
Rugby league convert Suaalii was forced off in the first half of last week’s 27-13 defeat to Scotland with an arm injury, but will return as one of six changes as the Wallabies bid to end the year on a high.
Schmidt said: “Joe’s fine, he got one of those stingers where he had a bit of a dead arm.
“We felt it was better to get it properly assessed and we couldn’t hold the game up to do that so we took him out of the game against Scotland, which was disappointing, but he’s fully fit and fully able.”
Schmidt, who spent three years as Leinster head coach before taking charge of Ireland for six years until 2019, has made five changes to his pack.
Props James Slipper and Taniela Tupou, second rows Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams, plus flanker Fraser McReight have been named to face the Irish.
Australia began their autumn tour with a 42-37 win against England at Twickenham and beat Wales 52-20 in Cardiff before last week’s defeat in Edinburgh.
Schmidt, who is gearing the Wallabies for next year’s British & Irish Lions tour Down Under, said: “If you look right through the last four games, we have been looking at different combinations.
“We’ve shifted things by four or five players every week. We want to be as competitive as we can, but at the same time we know we’ve got to build some depth in preparation for the Lions next year.
“That was always the brief for me coming into the job because that is a massive series, for the Wallabies and the Australian public.
“It has the opportunity to really promote the game and be a fantastic occasion for competitive rugby.”
— Wallabies (@wallabies) November 28, 2024
Australia team to play Ireland
Forwards: 1 James Slipper, 2 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 3 Taniela Tupou, 4 Nick Frost, 5 Jeremy Williams, 6 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 8 Harry Wilson (Captain)
Backs: 9 Jake Gordon, 10 Noah Lolesio, 11 Max Jorgensen, 12 Len Ikitau, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 15 Tom Wright
Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 20 Langi Gleeson, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tane Edmed*, 23 Harry Potter
* Denotes uncapped player