With Les Kiss formally taking the Wallabies reins from Joe Schmidt at the end of the current Super Rugby Pacific season, the parlour game of building Australia's first XV for the new era is in full swing. Rugby Lab waded in this week with a pure-form starting 23 — and it leans heavily into power, ball-carriers and youth.
At loose-head, Rugby Lab pinned Angus Bell to the No. 1 jersey without hesitation, describing the Waratahs prop as a gain-line specialist whose carrying and scrummaging now make him the most complete loose-head Australia has, and arguing that he remains crucial to the Wallabies' structured attack.
Matt Faessler took the No. 2 shirt on the strength of an outstanding Reds season. Rugby Lab argued the Queensland hooker is currently the most consistent and most informed hooker in Super Rugby, citing his lineout accuracy, defensive work-rate and reliability as a set-piece anchor. Tight-head went to Western Force enforcer Zane Nonggorr, picked for his sheer presence — a tight carrier whose scrummaging is still developing but whose raw power already lifts the front row.
The locks broke with conventional wisdom. Nick Frost was the safe choice at No. 4, framed as the best aerial lineout option Australia possesses. The bigger debate was Miles Amatosero at No. 5 — Rugby Lab admitted not everyone would have him there, but argued the 2-metre, 125kg Waratahs lock plays as the closest equivalent to the absent Will Skelton, an enforcer happy to grind in tight exchanges and deliver the kind of physical edge the Wallabies have lacked in his absence.
The back row was settled in two ticks and one quibble. Rob Valetini took 6, Fraser McReight 7, and Harry Wilson the No. 8 jersey and the captaincy. Rugby Lab placed McReight in the same conversation as Jack Willis among world-class opensides, citing 18-19 tackles a game and elite jackal work, while Wilson was praised for his linking play and ability to bridge forward grunt and backline tempo. The quibble was Charlie Cale, who has crossed for nine Super Rugby tries this season — Rugby Lab named him on the bench at 20 with the wry observation that there is simply no way to drop Valetini, McReight or Wilson when all three are fit.
In the halves, Reds scrum-half Ryan Lonergan got the nod over the more capped Tate McDermott on the strength of his form and game-management. Ben Donaldson was named at fly-half, with Rugby Lab calling him quite possibly the best in-form 10 in Australia and a player who turns pressure into points.
The midfield combination is where the selection bites hardest. Exeter-bound Len Ikitau was picked at 12 as Australia's best defensive inside centre — a tackle-first foil whose work-rate frees the men outside him to attack — while Joseph Suaalii at 13 was described as a near-2-metre line-break threat with offload, kick and aerial dimensions opponents simply cannot plan for.
Rugby Lab's back three reads almost like a sprint relay: Corey Toole on the left wing, picked as a counter-attacking speed demon and a kick-chase specialist; 21-year-old Max Jorgensen on the right, named one of the best young finishers in world rugby; and Andrew Kellaway at fullback, called the most reliable and consistent option Australia have in the No. 15 jersey.
The bench was built for impact: Billy Pollard, Tom Robertson, Taniela Tupou, Jeremy Williams, Charlie Cale, Tate McDermott, Carter Gordon and Dylan Pietsch. Rugby Lab's read on Tupou — "the Tongan Thor" — was that the destructive carrier is best deployed off the bench around the 45th to 50th minute to wreck a tiring defence.
Whether Kiss arrives at exactly the same XV is another question. Will Skelton and a clutch of Europe-based veterans will reshape the conversation, and Rugby Lab itself flagged that injuries and form swings between now and the first Test will move pieces. But as a snapshot of where Wallabies form sits in May 2026, Rugby Lab's pure-form 23 is the cleanest available read on the squad Kiss will inherit.
Source: Rugby Lab on YouTube, 'Picking Les Kiss' Wallabies on PURE FORM (2026)', 29 April 2026.
