Joseph Suaalii enjoyed a man-of-the-match debut for the Wallabies against England last week, but Australia did not need the 21-year-old in their 52-20 win over Wales on Monday morning.
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Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt made the surprising call to send Suaalii back to the bench earlier this week with Samu Kerevi returning to the starting line-up.
Suaalii didn’t have to do much as he came on as a substitute for Kerevi in the 63rd minute of Monday’s game with the Wallabies ahead 50-22. Although they almost ran into trouble after the contact almost got too high. On the first tackle on Jac Morgan.
Stan Sport commentator Sean Maloney described it as a “jamming hit” from Suaalii, while former Wallabies player Justin Harrison warned Suaalii would need to “make sure he gets the lap” from now on.
Wallabies confirm Sua’ali’i dropped | 01:16
It comes after Kerevi found himself in hot water after receiving a red card for a high tackle. This calls into question his place in the run-in squad for next week’s game against Scotland.
Schmidt said in his post-match press conference that the Wallabies coaching staff were “quite disappointed” with the red card.
Kerevi’s ban will see Suaalii return to the starting squad for the Scotland game.
Otherwise, Suaalii couldn’t have achieved much considering his second performance for the Wallabies came in a blowout win.
Earlier this week, Schmidt explained why he sent Suaali back to the bench.
“The last week, or rather the last two weeks, has been a whirlwind for Joseph. So for him to be able to take a breather and watch the game a little bit and then go into the game, I think it’s a good opportunity for him to make a change. If you need to, you have to pay a little bit for us,” Schmidt said.
“I think playing four Tests in a row against a highly ranked country like we are playing is a huge challenge for anyone. Playing a full match, especially for 80 minutes, is a huge challenge for anyone.
“Last week we only had half the plan, but when ‘Pietschy’ (Dylan Pietsch) came out, we couldn’t quite manage that time, so we want to try to maintain a balance.
“And Samu (Kerevi) is about to make his 50th appearance, so he is a really experienced and combative player.”
