ADLEAIDE -- Unwanted by Joe Schmidt for the upcoming Lions Test series, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto made a statement on the pitch in a standout performance in a losing AUNZ XV side at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night.
Failing to earn Wallabies selection for the Fiji match or the Lions series, Salakaia-Loto has found himself on the outer, behind the likes of Nick Frost, Josh Canham and Jeremy Williams with his performance for the Reds two weeks ago failing to make a mark with the Wallabies coach.
Named as co-captain alongside New Zealand's David Havili, the second-rower led from the front in front of the largest rugby crowd ever at Adelaide Oval, making several hammering tackles, while his ball carrying often bent the line for a side that struggled to find any defensive lapses to exploit. At halftime he'd already registered nine carries, by the final whistle he'd made it 12 with 28 metres and a line break for a team that failed to land a single punch.
"I thought Luhkan really set a standard up front and Shannon Frizzell also had some really, really special moments for us as well and created momentum," AUNZ XV coach Les Kiss said following the game.
"I thought early in the first half, it was 17-0 and we kept controlling field position, we just couldn't convert, but we had some good moments there and as that first half built on we started to create a few of our combos and things started to stick, we just couldn't finish it off. Shannon and Lukhan were central to that, they were very good in that area.
"I thought the physicality they showed and the way they punched through the line and forced and collapsed them -- there you saw another strength from them [the Lions] they do reform their defence quickly and really well and they push the edges of law in terms of how they slow that ball down, but you've just gotta deal with that.
"I thought Lukhan and Shannon were really strong for us up front."
Asked about his performance following the match, the 28-year-old said there was a fire in his belly to make a mark against the Lions with ambition to break his way back into the Wallabies fold.
"I don't want to play against the Lions twice," Salakaia-Loto said post-match. "I want to play against them as many times as I can.
"You want to play at the highest level., you know, and everyone would have been doing that, David [Havili] would have been doing that. I mean, this isn't just for Wallabies thing, a lot of us individually had points to prove, and I felt like we did that individually, but unfortunately, we were just on the wrong side of the scoreboard. If we'd scored 49 more points we probably would have won.
"I don't think it's about individual performances. I think we should be highlighting the week that it was. I think the thing I love most about tonight was just actually playing with some of these guys. Like you look at the team sheet; Hoskins Sotutu, Shannon Frizzell, David Havili, Ngani Lamape, Shaun Stevenson, the list goes on.
"I was very lucky to play with these guys, and I'm sort of glad that I missed out on that [Wallabies] squad because I wouldn't have had the opportunity to line up against some of these world class players. I'd do it again if I had the chance."
Fellow Wallaby hopeful Tane Edmed also made sure to make the most of his opportunity after his name was floated throughout the week after Noah Lolesio was ruled out of the Test series through injury. While he failed to make the first Test squad, his mature performance in Adelaide didn't go unnoticed by Kiss or his teammates.
"We we're talking about Tane before and I thought Tane did some really nice work for us. He stayed in the game, stayed tough, stayed in the tough moments, it wasn't easy for him, but he found some nice kicking space at times and took the line at different times and tried to marshal what resources we had against a pretty good defence. I thought he showed up as well.
Meanwhile, the AUNZ XV Invitational concept took a massive blow after the side failed to score a single point or produce many highlight reel moments. Despite the result though, both the players and coaches remained adamant the concept had legs for a potential reprise in New Zealand.
"I think I have the complete backing of the guys here that that concept should be something that we continue to work on and make it work whenever we can," Kiss said.
"That the quality of people that you had in that team if you had three or four weeks to build, I have no doubt that some of the things that probably caught us this week would not have caught us tonight.
"The concept of bringing guys together, I think I'd speak on behalf the two guys [David Havili and Salakaia-Loto] that they would support trying to make sure those moments can happen more often than not."