Will Skelton was a “passenger” against Lions in 2013. He wants another blow

“I’m going here and I’m really trying to do the best I can for this team and then if it comes (selection of the wallabies for the Lions), arrive, friend.”

Skelton and James Slipper are the only current Wallabies with the experience of playing against Lions. In his debut season with the Waratahs, Skelton appeared against the tourists of 2013 in front of a crowd exhausted at the Allianz Stadium. The Waratah may have lost 30 points overnight, but it remains one of Skelton’s most precious memories – and is desperate to meet him again.

“It was one of my first 80 -minute games, I remember that the coaches said I played well for 40 (minutes) and then I walked Bloody and I was a passenger for the next 40. But they wanted to take me out there and get that experience,” Skelton said.

“I certainly liked the game. It was physical, it was fast. The accumulation was incredible … you can see how much it means for those guys, playing for Lions. For us we had a commemorative shirt, which I have still obtained at home, which will always be quite special.”

When Skelton left Australia for the first time, to join the Saracens in 2017, he was not sure if or when he would play for Wallabies. The subsequent test caps were appreciated, but they did not arrive without their challenges.

In November, Skelton lost the game against Ireland in Dublin due to the test that falls outside the international window. The balance of giving the best for your club and your country is difficult to hit.

“It is only ensuring that the coach (Wallabies) and the union have an open relationship with the clubs,” says Skelton. “I think this is the main point, that there is an ongoing conversation, and we are really transparent on what we want and on what is necessary because at the end of the day, I think there is only a handful of overseas players. Most of the team is homemade and must be so,” Skelton said.

“If you are choosing the few selects abroad, those guys must be, first of all, want to play and want to have that fire to continue playing for their country and also to add value and make the difference. In the past selections in which I entered, I really wanted to make the difference and play my game and learn and share the experiences I had abroad.

“For me, it is only to give a little competence. It must not be talked about, it could be through actions. It could be through the way I learned some things, as we defend ourselves in a maul in certain situations, as mixes me … Video nowadays, see everything, but I imagine that in first person, that live experience, is something that some guys have not heard.”

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Skelton is one of the most successful exports of Australian rugby and much of this can be put to his desire to embrace the culture of his adoptive home. Skelton had the opportunity to move to France to play for Lyon in 2014, at the beginning of his career in Wallabies, but decided not to be ready and continued to develop in Australia before moving to the Saracens three years later.

One of the brightest rugby prospects in Australia, Heinz Lemoto is taking into consideration a move in France, together with the offers of Rugby Australia and Penrith Panthers in the NRL. What advice would Skelton Lemoto or any young player who considers the move abroad?

“Before, it was almost as if I had gone abroad, (you have),” said Skelton. “But now there are opportunities where you can leave, go, make two, three years in an academy (French), develop as a player, learn a different style of rugby and then go back.

“You really have to evaluate what you want in rugby. And if this means, I can return and I am still suitable and I can play in Australia and learn, this is certainly a way to look at it.

“Everyone is different, everyone has different backgrounds. And if you really look at what you want to do with your Rugby career and where you want to be 10, 15, 20 years old, I think it’s definitely a way to look at it and remain really open to any opportunity you get there.”

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