Rugby Australia's chief of high performance Peter Horne is confident a revamped Australia XV program will help prepare both the Wallabies and Australia's Super Rugby franchises for a mammoth 2025.
It comes ahead of Tuesday's squad announcement with total 64 players set to be called upon for the Wallabies Grand Slam attempt (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) and the Australia XV's two-game tour of England with matches against Bristol Bears and England A.
Speaking in Brisbane after a high-performance workshop with Super Rugby stakeholders, Horne says it's vital as many players as possible are exposed to "high-level competition" before the British & Irish Lions arrive next June.
“We need to get ready for next year. It’s a big year, 15 Tests, with the British and Irish Lions, TRC, November window, so it’s a huge load," Horne told reporters.
“The more players that we can get collectively together, playing at a higher level of footy against good opposition, not only gives Joe and the coaching team a lot but also inadvertently helps us prepare players to go to Super Rugby and be in a better position.
“We’ve now got a workforce that’s aligned, working the Wallabies philosophy, and the head coach from Australia XV [Rod Seib] is aligned to the Wallabies.
“We’ve moved the old (Australia) A-team program out of pathways centrally, and it’s now part of the Wallabies department."
Though the Australia XV fixtures scheduled for November 9 (Bristol) and November 18 (England A) clash with the Wallabies' opening two Tests against England (November 10) and Wales (November 18), squad members could easily be called up to join Joe Schmidt's outfit for the final two Test matches against Scotland (November 25) and Ireland (December 1).
It sets the scene for an exciting selection battle around key positions and opens the door for even more new Test debutants following a record-breaking run under Schmidt already in 2024.
High-profile recruit Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii could be trialed and tested in the XV arena before potentially joining the Test squad while players returning from injury such as Lachlan Lonergan, Dave Porecki, Rob Leota and others could all earn valuable game time under Schmidt before the upcoming Super Rugby Pacific season.
Horne told reporters the Australia XV program was just one of many topics discussed as part of the high performance workshop.
“We’re trying to connect with our Super Rugby clubs and build out the capability and development of all our staff across the system and keep the system connections," Horne said. “How do we continue to grow, how do we connect in between national and state level, and how do we actually move, not only getting the Wallabies going forward, but hopefully start winning some Super Rugby titles into the future?”
"It's important that we can continue to grow the competitiveness of our franchises and that connection between Super clubs and national teams.
“If we’ve got Super clubs that are in the top six, top eight on a consistent basis and continue to push for finals it helps us at Wallabies level.”
Schmidt and Seib are expected to front media in Sydney tomorrow from 1pm AEDT to unveil both the Wallabies and Australia XV squads.
