Wallabies winger Dylan Pietsch is hoping a perfectly timed stellar performance against the British & Irish Lions can be the difference in his quest for a regular starting spot.
Pietsch has been in and out of the Wallabies and Force in the past nine months due to injury.
Watch every game of the 2025 British & Irish Lions Tour live and on-demand via Stan Sport.
The 27-year-old injured his calf on the Spring Tour before a 25cm tear in his calf greatly affected his 2025 Super Rugby Pacific season.
However, a spectacular game against the Lions on Saturday has Pietsch on the verge of regaining his position in the set-up.
The former Australian Sevens star had six tackle busts and a pair of line breaks in the first half as he caused the Lions major headaches throughout the defeat.
“To be able to go against the best in the world is something that I thrive for in my footy, and I want to continue to keep doing,” Pietsch told the media.
“To get a little taste of it's awesome, it makes you want more, and hopefully I can just keep nudging the door for the Lions Series but if not, I'm so stoked to prep the boys for that occasion because it was such an awesome event.
“The fire's always there. I want to play as many Wallabies games as I physically and mentally, anything can, so to be able to have the opportunity to do that in my career is really cool and really special, and it's not something I take lightly.”
If Pietsch is selected for Sunday’s Test against Fiji, it’d have further meaning for the winger as the Wallabies run out in their First Nations jerseys to celebrate NAIDOC week.
Pietsch, a proud Wiradjuri man, helped design the Wallabies jersey for the Lions tour along with the Force, emblazoned with Indigenous totems and Aboriginal culture.
“NAIDOC week's a really cool week just to celebrate Aboriginal culture and to acknowledge how beautiful Aboriginal culture is and I think to start it off with the Test in Newcastle in the Indigenous jersey is an awesome thing,” he said.
“Throughout the week, I suppose I would implore people to really just acknowledge and research Aboriginal history because it is such a beautiful thing…there's so much history and so much knowledge throughout it, and I think you'd be surprised at how beautiful and how much history there is here.”
