Wallabies bench Carter Gordon, start Ben Donaldson at No 10

Les Kiss has left Carter Gordon on the bench for the second Test against Argentina in Mendoza on Saturday, handing Ben Donaldson his first Wallabies start at flyhalf in two years.

Gordon suffered a facial injury in last week's win in Jujuy but is fit enough to play, and will do so from the bench. Donaldson lines up outside Ryan Lonergan, who keeps his place at scrumhalf.

Kiss explained the thinking behind the switch.

«From the outset, we wanted to make sure we saw the 10s, all of them, in some form, He's had a great season, Donno [Donaldson], we felt it was just an opportunity to make sure he just feels Test rugby again as we move into the rest of the season. The three 10s that are here, they've been very good all year, they've been exceptionally good in camp here and they've all had an opportunity to contribute on and off the pitch,».

It is Donaldson's first start since the 67-27 loss to Argentina in the second Test of the 2024 tour. Since then the No 10 jersey has passed through Noah Lolesio, Tom Lynagh, James O'Connor, Tane Edmed, Declan Meredith and Gordon.

Kiss said the weekend would give Donaldson valuable game time, while stressing the need to settle on a starting flyhalf before the year is out.

«So if we come up to a big game suddenly later down the year and someone hasn’t played a Test match for a while, we just felt it was the right time to do something there as well. Thinking forward, we definitely start to narrow down our options for sure. Possibly our game management or kicking game has probably just been a little bit awry at times, but certainly would like that to step up again, Sometimes it’s a kick execution that’s letting us down, as you would have noticed on the weekend a few times, But just working on that execution in alignment with the decision [making] is something we’re working on. Not second guess yourself, not hesitating if you see a gap or you see a shot you can put on or whatever it may be, just to not hesitate,».