Wallabies team to play Wales named
Editor By Tristan Rayner, 19 Oct 2011 Tristan Rayner is a Roar Editor
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- Rugby Union, Rugby World Cup, wallabies
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A new-look front row will take on Wales this Friday in the bronze final of the Rugby World Cup, with Nathan Sharpe receiving his 100th cap for Australia as one of six changes to the forwards.
Injuries to Pat McCabe (shoulder), lock Dan Vickerman (shoulder, leg and nose), prop Sekope Kepu (eye) and hooker Stephen Moore (sternum), as well as coach Robbie Deans opting for a freshen up of the side, has seen eight changes with two new backs.
Replacing the injured Wallabies are Berrick Barnes, Nathan Sharpe, James Slipper and Tatafu Polota Nau respectively.
Tighthead prop Ben Alexander, who has started in 10 of the 11 Tests played by Australia this year, is off the bench, while Rocky Elsom has been omitted altogether. Loose forward Scott Higginbotham starts on the side of the scrum.
Radike Samo and Ben McCalman have swapped roles from last weekend, with McCalman starting while Samo plays from the bench.
The other alteration amongst the forwards on the bench sees Queensland Reds hooker Saia Fainga’a take up the position vacated by Polota Nau’s move into the starting line-up.
The other injury-related change to the backline sees the return of Kurtley Beale to fullback after missing the lost semi-final to the All Blacks.
Beale’s return allows Adam Ashley-Cooper to return to the midfield, with Anthony Fainga’a moving back to the bench to sit alongside halfback Luke Burgess and centre Rob Horne as the backline substitutes.
Sharpe becomes the fifth Australian, and the 21st player in the history of the game, to achieve the distinction of playing 100 Tests.
Sharpe achieves the milestone on the same ground as did the most recent Australian centurion, George Smith, two years ago during the 2009 Bledisloe Cup Test.
Friday night’s match will be refereed by Wayne Barnes of England, who also had charge when Australia beat Wales 25-16 during the two teams’ most recent meeting in Cardiff last November.
Full Australian side to play Wales:
15 Kurtley Beale
14 James O’Connor
13 Adam Ashley-Cooper
12 Berrick Barnes
11 Digby Ioane
10 Quade Cooper
9 Will Genia
8 Ben McCalman
7 David Pocock
6 Scott Higginbotham
5 Nathan Sharpe
4 James Horwill
3 Salesi Ma’afu
2 Tatafu Polota-Nau
1 James Slipper
Run on Reserves:
16 Saia Fainga’a
17 Ben Alexander
18 Rob Simmons
19 Radike Samo
20 Luke Burgess
21 Anthony Fainga’a
22 Rob Horne
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- Rugby Union, Rugby World Cup, wallabies
October 19th 2011 @ 11:17am
Brett McKay said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:17am | Report comment
Very happy for Nathan Sharpe, a well-deserved milestone…
October 19th 2011 @ 1:15pm
Capital said | October 19th 2011 @ 1:15pm | Report comment
A very good player and very smart player for the Wallabies over the years.
Well done Sharpie
October 19th 2011 @ 1:16pm
the other Steve - and AB fan said | October 19th 2011 @ 1:16pm | Report comment
A deserved milestone.
October 19th 2011 @ 1:23pm
WQ said | October 19th 2011 @ 1:23pm | Report comment
Here Here.
Nathan Sharpe deserves to play 100 Tests and be remembered for the powerhouse he has been for the Wallabies.
Congratulations to Nathan Sharpe and I hope the Wallabies send him out with a win.
October 19th 2011 @ 11:19am
dc said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:19am | Report comment
Congratulations, (from a Kiwi), to Nathan Sharpe…..immense milestone. …
October 19th 2011 @ 11:20am
King of the Gorgonites said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:20am | Report comment
A chance to go out on a high. if Australia can have a good win then the 3rd/4th play is a great part of the cup!
October 19th 2011 @ 11:21am
Johnno said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:21am | Report comment
Nathan Sharpe should of played in the semi, oh well can’t turn back time , done and time to move on.
October 19th 2011 @ 11:30am
Seiran said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:30am | Report comment
Wales by 8
October 19th 2011 @ 11:31am
adam said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:31am | Report comment
Why take Turner and Hodgson over and not play them in this match? For them to build up their FF points?
Well done Notso on 100 caps.
October 19th 2011 @ 11:51am
sheek said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:51am | Report comment
Well Adam,
Turner & Hodgson were mid-tournament replacements due to injuries, not initial squad selections.
Initial squad members still have right of passage. The world cup is not a free for all, you know.
Congrats to Sharpe on reaching the ton.
October 19th 2011 @ 12:01pm
Lewballs said | October 19th 2011 @ 12:01pm | Report comment
Anthony Faingaa has not really impressed and I think Turner would probably have a blinder on the wing. When I have seen him play test football he has looked more at home than Faingaa. As for Hodgson, that’s a tough one because he is replaced by younger players who probably have a brighter future.
Robbie Deans’ selection policy is some kind of free for all, mate!
October 19th 2011 @ 3:46pm
jeznez said | October 19th 2011 @ 3:46pm | Report comment
not sure we need two centres on the bench – Turner may have been a better bench option.
October 19th 2011 @ 11:47am
Harry said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:47am | Report comment
Well done Nathan Sharpe, the last remaining link to the 2003 side.
Looking forward to what I hope will be an entertaining and open match on Friday.
Once again they have the props the wrong way round – Slipper is a natural tighthead, Ma’afu a loosehead … I know they have invested a lot of time in Ma’afu at 3, but he’s never really looked like suceeding there.
October 19th 2011 @ 11:54am
Big Steve said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:54am | Report comment
While I have never been a fan of Sharpe I wish him all the best. It really is a great milestone for a tight forward. I hope he has a blinder. Its a shame its a 3rdv4th place play off for him.
Agree with Adam why arent Turner and Hodgson getting a run. turner should be there instead of Fianga, who was again poor with the ball but also missed tackles. Hodgson should be there for Samo.
October 19th 2011 @ 11:56am
Lewballs said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:56am | Report comment
Harry, couldn’t agree more. Despite trying to avoid sour grapes, I still can’t get over the shocking display of coaching Deans has put on during this cup.
Still we see this mistake of putting two props in the wrong position. And yet other obvious errors from last week are changed when it is all too late.
I feel so sorry for players like Scott Higginbotham and Berrick Barnes. They could not have done much more to warrant being given a good shot at cementing a place and yet Deans continued to ignore them. H’botham did not have a great game when he got his first start of the cup but was so good for the Reds all year that the 6 jersey should have automatically been his and Elsom should have had to work wonders off the bench to get it back.
Berrick Barnes came back into Sydney grade after his repeated concussions and showed his class. Finishing as top scorer in the Shute Shield despite joining the comp near its completion. His return game for the wallabies was great and he immediately showed vision, patience and the ability to execute under pressure. Deans did not have the guts to drop a player that was well out of form in Cooper. But it was needed. Mccabe was playing better than Cooper so it had to be QC who was dropped.
Maybe Deans is a kiwi plant! His tactics, leadership and player management has been shocking. We reverted to the worst, most negative kind of football just weeks after proving that we could beat the best with running rugby! Oh the frustration!
October 19th 2011 @ 12:23pm
Harry said | October 19th 2011 @ 12:23pm | Report comment
We were beaten by a huge margin in that semi on Sunday, but watching the replay last night, gee its frustrating to see the multitude of silly errors made by the Wallabies. What summed it up best was late in the 1st half, the kiwi’s put up a poor midfield bomb that doesn’t go far enough. Horwill drops it then AAC grabs it, clearly in an offside position. Penalty NZ, 3 points gifted them and a prime opportunity to go on the attack in their half with ball in hand squandered. Play that would make an under 12 coach smack his forehead in frustration. So so annoying to see. The players and the coach have to take the bale for a large part of that.
And early in the 2nd half, McCabe gets the ball on hios own 22 with planty of space – just charges healdong into the defence, is isolated and conceds a penalty. Another gob-smackingly stupid piece of play. Where were the tactics and direction? I don;t think Barnes is as good a 10 as Cooper but thought he should have started at 12 on Sunday. Bad coaching and slection.
October 19th 2011 @ 12:31pm
Big Steve said | October 19th 2011 @ 12:31pm | Report comment
Harry, in AAC’s defence the ball bounced straight into his hands, while it was a complete stuff up by everyone, that stuff happens somteimes.
In regards to that penalty, can someon explain what its for? Horwill knocks on and AAC picks it up and penalty NZ.
Towards the end of the second half, a NZ player knocks on and the ball is picked up by a player who was standing in front of him when the ball was knocked on, scrum Australia. Can anyone explain the difference. I know there are some refs out there!
October 19th 2011 @ 1:35pm
JohnB said | October 19th 2011 @ 1:35pm | Report comment
The ref has to make a judgment as to whether the off-side play has denied the other team an opportunity to take advantage (that’s my understanding rather than the wording of the law). So if you take the ball off-side and there are opposition players close around you who could have immediately got the ball, that’s a penalty. If there’s no opposition close, it’s a scrum.
October 19th 2011 @ 1:46pm
Big Steve said | October 19th 2011 @ 1:46pm | Report comment
Thanks John B.
October 19th 2011 @ 3:52pm
jeznez said | October 19th 2011 @ 3:52pm | Report comment
Didn’t see the second one but the way you describe it sounds like they were both penalties.
As soon as there is a knock on there is an off side line drawn.
If the ball hits an offside team mate without him playing it – then it is accidental offside and a scrum.
If the offside player actually plays at the ball, say sticking a leg out intentionally, or actually catching the thing – then it wasn’t accidental hence the penalty.
Hopefully PeterK will be along soon to correct anything I got wrong.
October 19th 2011 @ 3:58pm
Jerry said | October 19th 2011 @ 3:58pm | Report comment
Any chance you could narrow down the timing on that second one? Without seeing it, can’t comment – but one thing to note is if the player who knocked the ball on has carried on and is in front of the ball player, there’s no offside.
As an aside, I hate that law. It’s absurd that what AAC did is a penalty – the ball bounces right into his breadbasket, it’s instinctual to catch it. It’s even more ridiculous when you note that it doesn’t even require a knock on. If a retreating player drops the ball backwards, any player in front of him is still offside.
October 19th 2011 @ 4:07pm
Cattledog said | October 19th 2011 @ 4:07pm | Report comment
It’s a 50/50 call BS. Clearly, AAC didn’t play on. I suspect had he dropped it immediately, it would have been a scrum, AB ball. However, he just stood there (story of the Wallabies night, actually) so the referee awarded a penalty, off side.
Under the circumstances, however, a scrum perhaps would have been the better call as it was immediate and he didn’t play on but certainly a penalty wasn’t incorrect, as a scrum wouldn’t have been incorrect either.
Better would have been for AAC to think faster and as soon as the ball landed in his arms just drop it and take no further action. He didn’t do this so Joubert took the more severe approach.
October 19th 2011 @ 11:58am
Red Kev said | October 19th 2011 @ 11:58am | Report comment
Genia-Cooper-Ioane-Barnes-AAC-O’Connor-Beale
Correct me if I’m wrong but once Mitchell did his ankle back in May (I think it was May) isn’t this the exact backline we expected to see from the Wallabies? Pretty close to the one that carved up the French in Paris.
The bad news for Deans is if the Wallabies lose it’ll probably drop them in the IRB rankings and make his coaching record look even worse; but if they win we’ll all tell him that he should have selected this backline from the start of the RWC.
October 19th 2011 @ 12:11pm
Lewballs said | October 19th 2011 @ 12:11pm | Report comment
Too true, too true.
And what a back line it is on paper! The only problem is that Barnes really is a 5/8 but we have already seen him succeed as the inside centre next to Cooper. The funny thing is that in tight games like world cup finals, Barnes is really the guy you want at first receiver with Cooper ready to strike a little wider out if we have fast, attacking football made available.
Again, this is something Deans refused to play around with.
October 19th 2011 @ 1:18pm
sunshine said | October 19th 2011 @ 1:18pm | Report comment
maybe, mark ella spoke about the effects of having a ball playing inside centre and a loop play set up where cooper can distribute the ball to multiple runners. So I see Barnes best position at inside.
I think the cooper/barnes combo of fly/inside would have been the best fit for the attack.
The question I ask is how much of a disruption was cause by playing cooper at fullback in defense, we swapped one weakness for a strength that was the kick returns.
October 19th 2011 @ 1:17pm
Capital said | October 19th 2011 @ 1:17pm | Report comment
RK
I am perplexed that it takes a dead rubber to see Barnes get a run in the run on side.
Obviously the Roarers have no rugby credentials collectively …
It should be a great game against the welsh, who have had a great world cup – and very nearly an amazing RWC.
October 19th 2011 @ 6:52pm
Sluggy said | October 19th 2011 @ 6:52pm | Report comment
Spot. On. RK.
McCabe and Ioane came in when Barnes & Mitchell were crocked. But for a bout of headaches Barnes would have been at 12 all year – we know that once Deans picks someone he tends to stubbornly stick to them.
Ioane really grabbed his chance, and McCabe and Antfinger would not have made the bench if everyone had stayed fit.
October 19th 2011 @ 8:35pm
Parisien said | October 19th 2011 @ 8:35pm | Report comment
its the backline I would like to have seen in the semi final, all things permitting. I hope Beale’s hamstring is ok and survives!