Wallabies coach Eddie Jones has given the strongest indication yet he plans to pick Will Skelton in his Rugby World Cup squad, declaring the La Rochelle forward to be "probably the best right-hand-side lock in the world."
Fresh from his cameo coaching stint with the Barbarians, Jones will over the next few weeks look to finalise his squad for the Rugby Championship, which for Australia begins away to South Africa on July 8.
Australia's locally-based cohort each have one final game to impress in Super Rugby Pacific, while the Brumbies and Waratahs are guaranteed of at least one playoff fixture; the Reds, Rebels and Force are all fighting for the last two positions in the top eight.
Those games could prove pivotal for some players, particularly with Jones indicating he would soon front the Rugby Australia board to present his case on an expansion of the Giteau Law.
Speaking on The Evening Standard Rugby Podcast, Jones revealed his admiration for Skelton, while also mentioning his Top 14 colleague Richie Arnold after the lock had been part of the "overseas group" that joined the Wallabies April training camp via Zoom.
"They [Rugby Australia] had a law called the Giteau Law which was you could only get three players outside Australia with 30 caps," Jones told The Evening Standard.
"But we haven't tabled that [a policy change] with the board yet, but I'm sure we're going to get a positive response about more players. Because we've got [Will] Skelton, who's probably the best right-hand-side lock in the world. Richie Arnold at Toulouse, who's a fantastic player in the Top 14. Quade Cooper, [Samu] Kerevi, [Marika] Koroibete, we can't snub that sort of talent."
While Cooper, Kerevi and Koroibete have long thought to be walk-up starts for the World Cup under the existing Giteau Law, Skelton, Arnold and likely Bernard Foley would need what is officially known as the Overseas Player Selection Policy to be relaxed completely as a one-off measure or have its scope at least broadened.
Arnold, interestingly, is not capped by the Wallabies and also falls well short of the five years' service to Australian rugby clause, meaning Jones would need special dispensation to add the Toulouse lock to his World Cup group.
Skelton's deeds in the European Rugby Champions Cup final and the praise he has earned from La Rochelle coach Ronan O'Gara along the way have seemingly made the former Waratahs lock an irresistible selection however, particularly given the sheer size that some forward packs will present in France from September.
"You look at the game statistically, 70% of the game is played within one pass, so they're big man carries," Jones replied when asked about the hulking packs of France and South Africa.
"Just yesterday with the Barbarians we had a tighthead prop from the Sharks, [Carlu] Sadie, comes on the second half; he's got no leg speed but when he carries he takes men with him so it gives you a good base to work off.
"So a big right-hand side lock, big No. 8, big No. 3 [is what we need] mate."
Jones' comments about a big tighthead come as Allan Alaalatoa was added to a Wallabies' injury ward on the right-hand side of the scrum that already features Taniela Tupou and Tom Robertson. While Tupou may yet return in the Rugby Championship and Alaalatoa is awaiting the results of scans on the severity of his calf injury, it is far from the ideal scenario for the Wallabies' World Cup preparations.
As to what he's expecting in France, Jones predicted the World Cup would see some open rugby on dryer, faster pitches through to the quarterfinals, before a likely set-piece oriented contest for the semifinals and final in Paris.
And as for questions about his ability to imprint his style on the Wallabies in such a limited timeframe, Jones, unsurprisingly, doesn't appear phased.
"We've got five Tests matches, which is plenty. [World Cup-winning coach] Bob Dwyer used to say if you can't change a team in a week, you can't coach. So we'll give it a go."