Jordan Petaia is back in the Wallabies squad for the first time since 2023, with the utility back welcomed back into the fold by coach Les Kiss.
Petaia joins playmaker Harry McLaughlin-Phillips and prop Zane Nonggorr as the new faces in a 34-man Australia squad that will face the Springboks in Perth on Sunday week.
Petaia replaces the injured Dylan Pietsch, while Jock Campbell is also retained after he joined the Wallabies midway through their series win in Argentina. Filipo Daugunu and prop Massimo De Lutiis were left out of the squad for load management reasons, with the winger also managing a minor knee complaint.
"It certainly is [about canvassing all options], we've got a lot of good back-three players in the country; we've made sure we've looked at all of them. It was just the ideal opportunity to look at Jordan, he's been out of this system for two years now," Kiss said of Petaia.
"He's played in two World Cups and we just wanted to touch base with him, have him come and work out with us, see how he's going. We haven't selected that team [to face the Springboks], but we have selected the [wider] squad, so it was just a good opportunity to see Jordan back in the environment and for him to have a good look at us with the new coaching structure and those sorts of things."
McLaughlin-Phillips has meanwhile been preferred ahead of veterans James O'Connor and Bernard Foley, and Queenslander Tom Lynagh, as the third fly-half in the squad following Carter Gordon's injury.
Gordon broke his leg in the 28-all draw with the Pumas in Mendoza, opening up the opportunity for McLaughlin-Phillips, who led his new club Western Force to a last-gasp victory over the Reds in the opening game of Super Rugby Aus on Saturday.
While he may not get a chance against the Springboks, McLaughlin-Phillips' callup is a reward for several strong Super Rugby seasons with the Reds, where he has deputised for both Lynagh and Gordon.
"From the 10 perspective, there was a lot of deep discussion about where we would go with that," Kiss said. "And we finally landed on the fact that Harry had been in recently in the Nations [Championship], he impressed immensely in there, he's the most battle hardened 10 of all the options; I thought he played very well in the Force's victory over the Reds. So we just felt that he was the right option to come in.
"I know Harry well, he'll also know a lot of the nuances of the game that I do like, so I think he's earnt that right to be selected into the squad."
Petaia meanwhile finds himself back in the Test arena following one season at French club Perpignan.
The former Red, who can play in the midfield or the back three, departed Australia at the end of 2024 for a short-lived foray into the NFL, where he joined the International Player Pathway and was later picked up by the Los Angeles Chargers.
Petaia signed a three-year deal with the Chargers only to suffer a hamstring injury during preseason training, which ultimately led to the Queenslander being waived by the franchise in August last year. That setback saw him switch back to rugby with Perpignan, where he played 13 matches across the Top 14 and European Challenge Cup in the 2025-2026 season.
Petaia burst onto the scene as a 19-year-old at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, but was dogged by injury in the years that followed. His last game for Australia came in the devastating pool loss to Wales at the 2023 World Cup, a defeat that ultimately sealed the Wallabies' worst-ever World Cup result.
Petaia will play for Japanese club Urayasu D-Rocks next season where he will join is former Wallabies teammate Samu Kerevi. Just where that leaves the 26-year-old in terms of Wallabies' selection beyond the Springboks, and potentially the Bledisloe Cup next month, remains to be seen.
Noah Lolesio, who spent last season in Japanese rugby, was thought to be in the running for the third fly-half spot but Kiss instead chose to reward McLaughlin-Phillips.
The Wallabies returned from Argentina at the start of last Monday and will commence preparations for the one-off Test with the Springboks in Perth later this week.
The world champions will not return home to South Africa following their 42-28 win over the All Blacks in Baltimore, a result that secured a 3-1 series win, and will instead set up camp on the NSW Central Coast before heading across to Perth.
"The intensity of those matches was right up there for sure," Kiss said of the Springboks-All Blacks series. "But if you watched all games there [are] opportunities; both teams scored some points against each other. They weren't all perfect, both of them. But it is the intensity and the physicality of the matches.
"So we're a little bit removed from that, certainly over the last four games we've had some good intense matches, but we're certainly stepping up another level when we come up against the Springboks in a fortnight."
AUSTRALIA SQUAD FOR SPRINGBOKS
Forwards: Allan Alaalatoa, Angus Bell, Charlie Cale, Josh Canham, Tom Hooper, Isaac Kailea, Fraser McReight, Josh Nasser, Zane Nonggorr, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Billy Pollard, Aidan Ross, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Lachlan Shaw, Carlo Tizzano, Taniela Tupou, Rob Valetini, Jeremy Williams, Harry Wilson [c].
Backs: Jock Campbell, Ben Donaldson, Isaac Henry, Len Ikitau, Max Jorgensen, Ryan Lonergan, Tate McDermott, Harry McLaughlin-Phillips, Declan Meredith, Hunter Paisami, Jordan Petaia, Harry Potter, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, Kalani Thomas, Tom Wright.
