Australia v Fiji: international rugby union Test
Date: 2025-07-06T02:45:38.000Z
Title: Preamble
Content: Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of Australia v Fiji from McDonald Jones Stadium. Kick-off in Newcastle is 1:30pm AEST.
The Wallabies take the field for the first time this year in what is their one and only warm-up fixture ahead of three Tests against the British & Irish Lions. There is a lot riding on this rare trip to the Hunter region.
'It's almost like speed dating,' coach Joe Schmidt explained during his squad announcement, 'trying to get these guys together as good as we can to try to build some combinations; front-rowers wouldn't like that reference would they - it's slippery ground,' he said.
'Sunday will be a little bit of the unknown but we hopefully we recognise a few things about how we want to play and recognise some good performances from the players.'
With so long between drinks it's impossible to ascertain form, but Australia under Schmidt seem to be trending gently in the right direction. The final half-dozen matches of 2024 included victories on tour in Wales and England, as well as narrow defeats to Scotland and New Zealand.
The problem is the Wallabies are coming from a long way back, with the nadir of the 2023 Eddie Jones World Cup still fresh in the memory. The clearest illustration of this is on the world rankings with today's fixture pitting eighth vs ninth. The last time these sides met Fiji came out on top – but that was during the era of the Jones-time massacres.
With the Lions already four matches into their preparation, with two more still to come, there's a lot riding on the next 80 minutes of Test rugby.
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