Joe Schmidt’s Australian Kangaroos will have seven players making their Wales debuts and their seventh captain in a year.

Australia has played a total of 490 Test matches, but Slipper’s 135 Test matches made up for the lack of experience.

Schmidt started to try to find his best side last month, but he didn’t perform well. There will be experiments As with the Wallabies squad and captaincy changes in July, there will still be some surprises as players such as Nick Frost, Ben Donaldson, Harry Wilson and Tom Hooper are all in the current squad.

Wright’s captaincy has been linked with bringing on Allan Araratoa and Tate McDermott off the bench, with the former still considered the front-runner for the job. Wright, who came off the bench in all five Test matches in 2019, will become the seventh Kangaroos captain to be named in a little over 12 months.

The team will be strengthened by the return of injured players such as Angus Bell, Dave Poretzky and Rob Leotta, and with the addition of Gitto Law School selections Will Skelton and Marika Koroibet, they will enhance the team’s experience in the August Rugby Championship.

But the decision not to play Darcy Swain and to ignore departing players Mark Nawaqanitawase, Carter Gordon, Izzy Perese and Lachie Swinton has left the team looking very inexperienced in this month’s Test matches.

Ben Thomas will make his first appearance for Wales in five-eighths in three years, while Josh Hathaway will make his debut at wing after Warren Gatland overhauled the squad for the first Test against Australia.

Wales were beaten 41-13 by world champions South Africa at Twickenham two weeks ago and thrashed Australia 40-6 at last year’s World Cup – but only three starters will return at the Allianz Stadium for Saturday’s showdown in Lyon.

Thomas, an inside centre at club level, will play behind Cardiff team-mate Ellis Bevan, a centre-back who made his debut against the Springboks.

With Liam Williams moving to full-back and Aaron Wainwright earning his 50th Wales cap as a No.8, Hathaway was given his chance on the right wing.

Hooker Dewi Lake will once again captain the side’s front row, alongside Sydney-born forward Archie Griffin, who will start at wing in place of the injured Keiron Assiratti for the first time in a Test match.

Gatland has selected a new second row of Dafydd Jenkins and Christ Tshiunza, while Tommy Reffell, who missed the South Africa match through injury, will return to open wing position for James Botham.

Wallaroo coach Joe Yap has unveiled four debutants for Saturday’s Test match against Fiji at Allianz Stadium.

ACT Brumbies trio Biola Dawa, Allana Sikimeti and Lydia Kavoa will join Natalie Wright as new players making their debut for the Wallaroos in the Australian Cricket League.

Wallaroo will play a double-header against the Wallabies, which kicks off at 4.30pm.

Meanwhile, the Australian rugby sevens coach has expressed confidence in his squad after revealing the squad for the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Australian women’s rugby sevens coach Tim Walsh, who led the team to gold in 2016, said the star-studded Australian women’s sevens team, captained by Charlotte Caslick, was content to be favourites for gold alongside New Zealand.

Since being eliminated from the Tokyo Olympics, the Australian women’s rugby team has won two World Rugby Sevens Series, a Rugby Sevens World Cup and the Commonwealth Games.

“There’s a reason we always talk about the windshield being bigger than the rearview mirror, so we can learn from the past and drive progress,” Walsh said.

“But this is a different team (from the 2016 and 2021 teams). If you’re expected to win, it means you’ve been winning, and that’s what we tried to do. I couldn’t be more proud of the way the team prepared. We’ve had some good results the last few years. It definitely gives you a sense of confidence that you know how to win.”

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Coach John Manetti said he was glad the men’s basketball team could head to Paris with a low profile, even though they have made great strides since the Tokyo Olympics, where they won the world series in 2022.

“Australian teams always perform well with the label of being an underdog and if people don’t want to consider us, that’s great, especially if the opponents want to do that, that’s great,” Manetti said.

With AAP

Watch each July International Rugby Test Matches Ad-free, live and on-demand matches Stan Spott These include the All Blacks v England (4:00pm AEST Saturday), Australian Kangaroos v Fiji (4:30pm AEST Saturday), Japan v Maori All Blacks (6:50pm AEST Saturday), Australian Kangaroos v Wales (7:00pm AEST Saturday), South Africa v Ireland (12:00am AEST Sunday) and Argentina v France (4:50am AEST Sunday).