'Curse of the 10 jersey' sees yet another fly-half as rookie Wallaby to debut

The Wallabies have been dealt another major injury blow with second choice fly-half Ben Donaldson ruled out of Saturday's Test against France, with Declan Meredith handed the starting jersey and the keys to a potent backline.

Australia confirmed starting No. 10 Carter Gordon had been scrubbed for the remainder of the Nations Championship through a calf strain on Tuesday -- alongside back-rower Tom Hooper -- before the group took another major hit with Donaldson struck down with his own knock.

Donaldson was spotted running laps on the Ballymore stadium back field wearing a compression bandage on the injured calf during Thursday morning's training session, but was later ruled out of the contest with Schmidt telling reporters the No. 10 had suffered a contusion and the coaching team were unwilling to risk further damage.

It's seen Meredith thrust into the spotlight and into the Test couldron with the 27-year-old to take on the back-to-back Six Nations champions in front of 50,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium in one of two changes to the starting line-up.

Meredith will be the eighth fly-half to play under Schmidt since the Wallabies opening Test against Fiji last year with Noah Lolesio, James O'Connor, Tane Edmed, Tom Lynagh, Ben Donaldson, Carter Gordon and Hamish Stewart all thrown into the playmaking role over the last 12 months. Many of them pulled up through injury replacement.

"We'd love to have continuity there," Schmidt told reporters on Thursday. "It seems a curse of the 10 jersey.

"First year Noah got some real continuity and I felt if you track that first year we got some pretty steady progress. Since then it's tended to fluctuate as we've lost guys, replaced them, even Carter coming off in the weekend. Initially it was cramp and it was picked up in a scan that he's got a little tear there, nothing major, but enough to keep him out of the next two games."

While Schmidt remains hopeful Donaldson will be available for the side's third Nations Championship Test against Italy in Perth next week, for now he's relying on Meredith to build on what the Wallabies produced last week against Ireland.

The selection rounds out an incredible rise for the 27-year-old who had previously contemplated giving up on his rugby dream only for his family to convince him to stay the course, resulting in the playmaker's debut with the Brumbies in 2023 before producing a breakout season this year as he became the side's regular start in Super Rugby Pacific.

Meredith will be supported by his Brumbies teammates Len Ikitau and Wright, and his halves partner Ryan Lonergan in what closely resembles the Brumbies axis of attack.

"I think it's really because he had a pretty good Super season," Schmidt told reporters when asked why he turned to Meredith. "It was his first real Super season in charge of the Brumbies and I thought he started really well. When the Brumbies lost a bit of their front foot ball, it was pretty tough for him, but again, he's a multifaceted player.

"He's brave. He's very much trying to learn as much as he can and he'll get some good help around them with Ryan Lonergan, that's a pairing that's had a little bit of experience together and then the experience of Lenny [Ikitau] is also an advantage, particularly that's I suppose a Brumbies inside set up."

While Schmidt is confident Meredith will rise to the occassion, he's also aware the situation he's thrown the young half into.

"That's the million-dollar question, really, isn't it?" Schmidt said when asked how Meredith would handle the occassion.

"It's a big ask to suddenly be thrust into it. We thought that it would be a three-week window where he could get a little bit comfortable, learn a bit about how we play, and then be able to express himself maybe in the next window, but we don't control all those elements, so he's been thrust into the role.

"I'm excited, but I'm always apprehensive about anyone coming in and having to run the game. As was mentioned, we've had so many changes at 10, it's just been really hard to get consistency as a result of that with that being your game driver. I suppose in teams in the past that I've coached, we've had really good consistency at 10 and so you've been able to build a team around them."

Depsite the loss of both preferred five-eighths, Schmdit made the decision not to call upon Tane Edmed, who played 10 Tests last year, four he started, or Noah Lolesio, who has returned to Australia following the end of the Japanese League Two season, with the out-going coach pointing to Donaldson's late ommission and Lolesio's lack of time in the Australian set-up as to why he didn't make the call.

"We contemplated getting hold of Noah, but Noah hasn't been with us at all and we thought that Ben was still going to be okay. That was a bit of a surprise and we didn't really get that surprise until Tuesday when he wasn't able to train.

"It's really difficult because we've spent the time with these guys recently and unfortunately for Noah, he didn't spend any time with us last year apart from in the lead up to the Fiji game. It was a long way from that Fiji game to where we finished up.

"He had a good season in Japan, but the level as well, playing Div 2 over there, I don't think it's the best preparation for Test footy, I think Super Rugby is a much better kind of preparation tool for those players.

"I'm not sure if it's the right decision, but it's the decision we made in the context of the time frame that we had."

The elevation of Meredith has caused a reshuffle in the backline with Jock Campbell moved to the bench, despite a strong return to the Wallabies side after 1316-day absence, and Tom Wright elevated to fullback in his first start for Australia since an ACL injury against the Springboks last year.

Campbell will bring coverage to both fullback and No. 10, where he has played for the Reds on several occasions, but has never started, leaving Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, who was recently called into the squad as injury cover, out of the line-up. Meanwhile, Tom Lynagh remains absent through injury.