Never before has Rugby Australia summoned a combined number of First Nations/Pasifika players, with history set to be made next year in the pinnacle of all rugby union tours.
The British & Irish Lions will arrive in Australia for the first time in 12 years for a three Test series against the Wallabies and six tour matches against Super Rugby franchises.
The demise of the Melbourne Rebels has left a vacancy in the itinerary's fixturing during the offseason of the 2024 Super Rugby competition, following the Rebels entry into voluntary administration due to debts owed to creditors that is said to exceed $23 million, including $11.5m debt to the Australian Tax Office.
The replacement match set for July 22 in Melbourne needs the approval of the four Home Nations unions that form the Lions' entity to make it official.
But that appears to be more of a formality to tick off a momentous occasion in Australian and British rugby's storied tales towards a different kind of tradition.
The Lions are believed to have wanted the replacement midweek fixture be played against a Super Rugby-standard opposition – between the first and second Tests against the Wallabies – and not to meet a non-professional lineup that will not fully prepare players.
The last time that happened the 2013 touring Lions won 64-0 against a hapless Australian Country side.
But the same authorities did not want to face a strong Australia A or the Australian Barbarians in what would essentially force more pressure on their players to win in an impromptu yet unofficial fourth Test.
The Lions already have a tour match in Adelaide scheduled against the ANZAC Invitational XV that will include some New Zealanders not in the All Blacks squad for the corresponding Test series in Aotearoa against France.
Rugby Australia chef executive, Phil Waugh, said the unique idea to meet the criteria was to find another invitational XV that celebrated the diversity of cultures in Australia from the ranks of the Super Rugby teams.
"Given the popularity of rugby in the Pacific Islands communities was one point, and the connection to the Victorian rugby community in Melbourne was another really important element and we also have some great talent with First Nations heritage," Waugh told Nine media on Tuesday.
"So it was a matter of how do we will pull those ideas together to make a very special game in a massive tour?
"The preference will be to have Australian-eligible players of First Nations and also of Pacific backgrounds, and high-profile players to drive a high level of interest."
The Wallabies recent Test lineups have had more Pasifika players than those of Indigenous roots, with eight making the starting lineup against Wales on Sunday while a further four players took the eight spots on the bench.
Rugby union has always had a problem attracting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to play the running game.
Including Dylan Pietsch, there has been been 15 Indigenous players capped for Australia in 125 years of Test rugby while there are just six players, including Andy Muirhead, who is playing in midweek matches on the Grand Slam tour that have a contract with a Super Rugby franchise.
There also has never been – unlike in the NRL and AFL – an Australian Aboriginal squad to play against other teams in light of an era of the Ella brothers playing, let alone one for a Pasifika side following an increase in the arrivals of Fijians, Samoans and Tongans to Australia over the decades.
"We probably haven't captured and brought through as many of the extremely talented Indigenous athletes into rugby as we would like," Waugh said.
"There have been some of our biggest names, but certainly not enough of them.
"So we definitely want to connect with Indigenous rugby supporters and participants, and work hard to bring into our game."
While Pietsch will be hoping to play in the culturally historic battle, the 26-year-old has just returned to Australia in the past few days after being ruled out for the remaining two Australian Tests against Scotland and Ireland.
The Wiradjuri man was injured in the Wallabies' opening Test in the 42-37 win over England, and after the winger was left out for the Wales Test eight days later, the Australian medical team could not pass Pietsch becoming fit and training in less than two weeks.
"Dylan Pietsch picked up a calf injury against England and will return to Australia to begin his recovery," a Wallabies team statement said on social media.
