Incoming Wallabies coach Les Kiss will get an early taste of international rugby after being named as head coach of the AUNZ Invitational XV to face the British & Irish Lions at Adelaide Oval.
Kiss, who is due to take over from Joe Schmidt in the middle of 2026, will work alongside former All Blacks head coach Ian Foster to oversee the first combined Australia and New Zealand rugby side since the 1989 Lions tour.
Kiss’s squad to face the Lions could include New Zealand’s Japan-based stars Richie Mo’unga and Aaron Smith, who have indicated their desire to play in the fixture.
Former Wallabies No.8 and Tonga coach Toutai Kefu has also been named to take charge of the First Nations & Pasifika XV side who will play the Lions at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on 22 July.
Kefu’s squad will be selected from the four Australian Super Rugby teams and players from the Drua and Moana Pasifika.
Meanwhile, Wallabies prop Allan Alaalatoa remains on course to play in the Tests against the Lions after the Brumbies confirmed their captain had suffered a low-grade calf strain, which will keep him on the sidelines at least until the Super Rugby finals.
“The results of the scan are favourable and show a low-grade calf strain, which should have him return in the next couple of weeks,” a club statement said.
Alaalatoa was helped off the field by physios after 47 minutes in Canberra during the 24-14 win over the Reds last Saturday that locked in a home quarter-final for the Brumbies in two weeks.
The Brumbies captain missed the 2023 World Cup after rupturing his Achilles playing against the All Blacks in the Bledisloe Cup at the MCG.
After fully recovering from that injury, Allalatoa has been in strong form this season, missing just one game for the Brumbies in Super Rugby and averaging 59 minutes per game.
Former Wallabies hooker Jeremy Paul believes a healthy Allalatoa is vital if Australia is to stand any chance of winning the series.
“My first person picked within the team is Allan Allalatoa, either starting or coming off the bench, because for me, he typifies what being in the squad and being in a team is all about,” Paul said.
“His scrummaging has been top shelf this year, I still think Tongan Thor [Taniela Tupou] is slightly ahead for scrummaging, but Alan Allalatoa’s form this year has been outstanding; he’s definitely going to get the number three jersey and play beside Angus Bell.”
Allalatoa’s partnership with Tupou in the Test series against the Lions will be crucial, given they will be up against two world-class scrummagers in Ireland’s Andrew Porter and England’s Ellis Genge.
Tupou has come off the bench in his last five games for the Waratahs in Super Rugby, averaging 42 minutes per game.
After a difficult season, Tupou has returned to form in his side’s last two defeats against the Reds and the Crusaders.
The Wallabies have a lack of depth at tighthead prop, with the Force’s Tom Robertson and the Reds’ Zane Nonggorr below Tupou and Allalatoa.
The Brumbies could also be boosted by the return of Wallabies five-eighth Noah Lolesio for the finals, after it was feared the playmaker had suffered a neck injury after being caught awkwardly in a ruck against the Force in Perth last Saturday.
Lolesio is back running at training and will undergo further tests, but could take the field for the Brumbies in their home quarter-final on June 7.
Watch all the action from the 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season on Stan Sport, the only place to watch every match live and on demand.
