Captain Harry Wilison will likely recover from his knee injury, but there is doubt around Dylan Pietsch.
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt said he may have to ask more players to come over from Australia after a three players were taken off the field during their victory over the Springboks at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Wallabies secured a famous victory at the Johannesburg fortress, where they had only won once in 12 previous attempts. They overturned a 22–5 half-time deficit to score five unanswered tries in the second half and win 38–22.
The Wallabies had already lost a handful of players due to injury during the British & Irish Lions series, and Schmidt recalled 35-year-old scrumhalf Nic White, who retired during the series.
Then there was a late injury to first-choice flyhalf Ben Donaldson, which saw Tane Edmed come into the squad on the eve of the game. During the match, wing Dylan Pietsch, No 8 Harry Wilson and centre Len Ikitau all left the field injured.
Injured wallabies
Schmidt sait Pietch’s jaw came off second best against Springbok captain Siya Kolisi’s shoulder in a collision.
“He looks like he’s either badly bruised it or potentially fractured it. We will find out, he’s got scans,” said the Wallabies coach.
“Harry Wilson is a little bit more promising. He just hurt that knee awkwardly when he got that second try. He will hopefully be okay for next week. If we do look for an SOS it will probably be for a back three player if Dylan Pietsch isn’t 100%.”
The coach said Edmed and O’Connor, who was drafted into the starting XV after Donaldson’s injury despite not playing Test rugby since 2022, acquitted themselves well.
“James O’Connor just grew into the game, I thought. He got a little bit rattled with the heat that the Boks brought. But the longer the game went on he started to manage it really well.
Wallabies bench maintains defensive effort
“And I thought our bench did really well. Young Zane Nonggorr, he’s just a kid. Angus Bell was very physical. Again, Jeremy Williams did well. Tate McDermott, he came on as a winger, he went off and then came on as a half back and did a super job, and so did Andrew Kellaway. He’s got a really good rugby IQ as well.”
The Wallabies coach said the bench combined to maintain the defence effort the starting XV implemented.
