Wallaby #997: The kid from Cairns who took the long road and now gets his chance against France

Carter Gordon has a calf injury. Ben Donaldson, who came off the bench against Ireland last week and missed the penalty that could have won the match, has a calf injury too. In the twelve months since July last year, Noah Lolesio, Tom Lynagh, James O'Connor, Tane Edmed, Carter Gordon, and now Declan Meredith have each been handed the number ten jersey for the Wallabies. Six fly-halves in twelve months. Joe Schmidt, announcing the team on Thursday, called it the curse of the ten jersey. He was not entirely wrong.

On Saturday evening at Suncorp Stadium, Meredith will become Wallaby #997. He is 27 years old, he comes from Cairns, and he played his junior rugby for Barron Trinity Bulls. He is not a product of the rugby school system. He is not a former Junior Wallaby. He has taken a route to the gold jersey that almost nobody predicted, and the circumstances that put him there this week are hardly flattering. He should be judged on what he does with the opportunity rather than how it arrived.

The road from Cairns

Meredith grew up in far north Queensland at a time when his sporting future was not obviously pointed toward rugby. At sixteen he chose the game over soccer, a decision that required both conviction and a willingness to see where it led without any obvious guarantees. He linked up with the Brumbies in 2023 and worked his way through a system that already had established options at ten in Noah Lolesio and Jack Debreczeni.

The waiting was long and largely invisible from the outside. He won the MacDougall Medal as John I Dent Cup Player of the Year in the seasons when he was backing up rather than starting. He captained the Brumbies in a fixture against Hong Kong China last year. His father reportedly wept when the Nations Championship squad email arrived.

The door opened this year when Stephen Larkham gave him the starting ten role at the Brumbies and named him in the run-on side on fourteen occasions across the Super Rugby Pacific campaign. Larkham, who knows the position from 102 tests and a World Cup winner's medal, saw enough to build a game plan around what Meredith brings. The Brumbies won matches against the Crusaders and the Chiefs that they were not supposed to win. Meredith's decision-making was central to both.

Schmidt called him into the squad. Meredith described the wait for the email as daunting. Now he starts against France.

What he brings and what he replaces

Gordon started at ten in Sydney last week in a match Australia lost 33–31 after leading 19–7 in the first half. His tendency to drift laterally before distributing the ball was a visible problem that gave Ireland's defensive line time to reset and compress space that should have been available to the centres. Donaldson, who carries an attacking and expressive game built on running lines and ball movement for the Western Force, came on from the bench and missed the late penalty that would have sent the match to a different conclusion entirely.

Meredith's game at the Brumbies reflects Larkham's coaching directly. He reads defensive structure before the ball arrives. He is willing to take the line on when the gap presents itself. His passing at Super Rugby level has been accurate at pace rather than merely in space, which becomes the relevant distinction at test level where defenders close much faster.

He partners with Ryan Lonergan at nine, his Brumbies halves teammate, who brings six test caps and a full season of combination built under Super Rugby pressure. Lonergan spoke this week of his clubmate as thoroughly prepared and fully backed by the squad around him.

The team and the occasion

Joe Schmidt has made only two changes to the starting fifteen that played Ireland. Tom Wright returns to fullback, with Jock Campbell shifting to the bench where he will cover both ten and fifteen. The forward pack is entirely unchanged, a clear signal of where Schmidt's confidence sits after Sydney.

The starting eight deserves its own reading rather than a footnote. Harry Wilson captains from number eight in his 37th test, a player whose carry statistics against Ireland — 14 runs, 89 metres, two offloads — established the standard for what this loose forward trio can produce when functioning as a unit. Fraser McReight at openside flanker is the most technically complete breakdown operator in Australian rugby. Rob Valetini, the John Eales Medallist and the competition's most powerful close-range carrier, provides the gain-line presence that Schmidt's attacking system requires before the ball reaches the backs.

Jeremy Williams and Josh Canham in the locks produced one of the less celebrated performances in Sydney that deserved more attention than it received. Williams brought the physicality that unsettled the Irish scrummage over 80 minutes. Canham, with three test caps and one year of starting Super Rugby behind him, pinched three Irish lineout throws. Allan Alaalatoa starts at tighthead with 89 test caps and brings the kind of front-row authority that France will need to plan for seriously.

In the backs, Tom Wright returns at fullback. Max Jorgensen and Dylan Pietsch take the wings. Pietsch carries additional significance this week — the Wallabies will wear their First Nations jersey in recognition of NAIDOC Week, with Pietsch becoming the 15th Indigenous Wallaby acknowledged through the updated artwork on the jersey. Len Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii in the centres remain as physically dominant a midfield pairing as the Nations Championship can produce when both are running at full capacity.

The bench carries significant experience. James Slipper, the Wallabies' appearance record holder, joins Brandon Paenga-Amosa and Taniela Tupou as front-row cover. Lachlan Shaw, who debuted last week, retains his bench position. Nick Champion de Crespigny comes in as forward cover after Tom Hooper was ruled out with injury. Tate McDermott provides scrumhalf impact. Campbell and Filipo Daugunu, the versatile Reds back who has started on both wings and at inside centre this season, complete the twenty-three.

The opposition and what history says

France made eight changes to the side that lost to New Zealand 34–32 in Christchurch, one of them enforced after Damian Penaud sustained a calf injury after scoring his national record-extending 41st try early in that match. Romain Ntamack starts at fly-half with Maxime Lucu captaining at nine. This is a France side being asked to test its depth rather than confirm its quality, and it arrives in Brisbane carrying the specific discomfort of a team that knows it underperformed the previous weekend.

Australia have won their last seven test matches played in Brisbane. France's most recent victory against the Wallabies in Queensland came in 1972. Neither statistic guarantees anything on Saturday but both provide context that the Wallabies' preparation will not have ignored.

Schmidt's assessment of the week, delivered with characteristic precision on Thursday, was that the group has reset after what he described as a tough ending to the first Nations Championship match. The forward pack selection confirms he is not questioning the foundation. What he is asking on Saturday is whether Meredith can manage what sits on top of that foundation more effectively than the two men who preceded him did last week.

Meredith joined the Brumbies in 2023. He waited for his Super Rugby chance, got it this year under Larkham, and took it. Now he gets his test chance against France, on a ground where Australia does not lose often, in a match the Wallabies need to win to keep their Nations Championship path viable.

He is the sixth different ten in twelve months. What he does with the jersey from Saturday onwards is the only question worth asking now.

Australia v France. Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. Saturday 11 July 2026. Kick-off 5:30pm AEST. Live on Stan Sport and the Nine Network. Australia wear the First Nations jersey in recognition of NAIDOC Week. 🏉