Kurtley Beale earns shock recall to Wallabies squad five years after last Test

Veteran playmaker Kurtley Beale has been summoned for the Wallabies’ spring tour of the UK in a massive development ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia. Beale on Wednesday answered an SOS call from coach Les Kiss to join the squad for next month’s three Tests against England, Scotland and Wales before the inaugural Nations Championship finals in the UK from 21-23 November. The 95-Test capped Beale will replace midfielder Hunter Paisami, who is unavailable for due to personal reasons, while James Ramm and Kalani Thomas were also named to join the touring group.

But the 37-year-old’s inclusion will be the major talking point as Kiss seemingly considers biting the bullet and ending Australia’s revolving door of flawed five-eighths by backing a proven No 10 to steer the wobbly ship ahead of next year’s global showpiece. Kiss’s predecessors Joe Schmidt, Eddie Jones, Dave Rennie and Michael Cheika have used almost a dozen different playmakers since Bernard Foley guided the Wallabies – under Cheika – to the 2015 World Cup final in England. But none of the likes of Noah Lolesio, Ben Donaldson, Carter Gordon, Tane Edmed or Harry McLaughlin-Phillips have been able to hold down the spot.

Fellow stalwarts James O’Connor, Quade Cooper and Matt Toomua have also had cracks without commanding the role. Cheika has turned to Foley to rejoin the NSW Waratahs from Japan, more than a decade after the duo masterminded the club’s one and only 2014 Super Rugby premiership. Now it appears Kiss is seriously considering Beale to revive the Wallabies’ fortunes after Australia slipped to No 7 in the world rankings after losing the Bledisloe Cup for a 23rd straight year this month.

Beale last appeared in a Wallabies squad in 2024 before an Achilles injury prematurely ended his season. His most recent appearance in the gold jersey was against Wales in Cardiff in 2021. But the silky-skilled talent and former world player of the year nominee boasts three World Cup experiences from 2011, 2015 and 2019 since first being called up by Wallabies coach John Connolly as a schoolboy prodigy.