Sydney University Football Club product Will Skelton will make a welcome return to Wallaby colours when they play France this weekend.
The giant second-rower was unavailable for the first Test on the Wallabies Spring Northern Hemisphere tour when they held on to beat Scotland 16-15 at Murrayfield last Saturday.
But he’s happy to return to the Wallabies fold, assuring reporters he’s keen to “rip in and will not be a passenger” after coach Dave Rennie named him in the side for this weekend. “Any time you play for your country you step up and play to your strengths,” he said.
Skelton didn’t have far to join the Wallabies training base in France, having turned out for Rochelle last weekend to fulfill his commitments with the club.
Skelton played for SUFC between 2010-17. He was invited into the Waratahs Academy and the Australian Rugby Union’s National Academy in 2011. He made his Super Rugby debut for the Waratahs in 2013 and turned out for the state later that year against the touring British and Irish Lions.
The now 30-year-old made his Test debut against France in 2014 and scored Australia’s first try in their 39-13 win. He went on to play 21 Tests before venturing overseas in 2017 to play for Saracens in the UK for two seasons and then La Rochelle in France. Skelton helped Saracens to two premierships and a European Champions Cup and La Rochelle to two European Champions Cups.
Skelton said he has his sights on next year’s World Cup in France. “To go to a World Cup would be great,” he told The Sydney Morning Herald’s Tom Decent. “That’s obviously the goal, but you have to perform not only for your club but at Test level.”
