Wallabies coach Robbie Deans has made just two injury-enforced changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s rugby Test against Ireland.
Adam Ashley-Cooper is promoted from the bench to the wing for the Suncorp Stadium match in place of Digby Ioane who suffered a shoulder injury in the 21-20 second Test loss to England in Sydney last weekend.
And Luke Burgess returns at halfback for Will Genia who is out with a broken hand from that England clash.
Josh Valentine comes onto the bench as back up halfback along with utility back Kurtley Beale.
Wallabies: James O’Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Rob Horne, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Quade Cooper, Luke Burgess; Richard Brown, David Pocock, Rocky Elsom (capt), Nathan Sharpe, Dean Mumm, Salesi Ma’afu, Saia Faingaa, Ben Daley. Res: Huia Edmonds, James Slipper, Mark Chisholm, Matt Hodgson, Josh Valentine, Berrick Barnes, Kurtley Beale.
Reds Fan Willy
Guest
Brett, I suppose that A Faingaa was just another reds name to throw around after the super 14 season for the Wallabies squad. I dont believe that anyone should be dropped for him but i thought this series would be an oppurtunity for some fringe players to get an oppurtunity off the bench after a pretty good provincial season.
Derm
Roar Guru
Ireland line up for Saturday will be: (no. of senior starting caps in brackets) 15 - Rob Kearney (21) 14 - Tommy Bowe (31) 13 - Brian O'Driscoll (101) 12 - Paddy Wallace (10) 11 - Andrew Trimble (21) 10 - Jonathan Sxton (5) 9 - Tomas O'Leary (14) 1 - Cian Healy (8) 2 - Sean Cronin (1) 3 - Tony Buckley (4) 4 - Donncha O'Callaghan (43) 5 - Mick O'Driscoll (6) 6 - Niall Ronan (2) 7 - Shane Jennings (3) 8 - Chris Henry (0) Replacements: 16 - Damien Varley (0) * 17 - Tom Court (2) 18 - Dan Tuohy (0) 19 - Rhys Ruddock (0) * 20 - Eoin Reddan (11) 21 - Ronan O'Gara (99) 22 - Geordan Murphy (52)
HonkyT5
Guest
Just goes to show how little value Australian rugby still places on the tight 5. After the humiliation of 1st test the young front row were too junior,outweighed, young, inexperienced- everything except not good enough. Still not enough wailling and gnashing of teeth, for mine ,from the Oz media. Where for instance was the mention of the fact that the tight 5 is made up of 5 not 3? Where was the spotlight on 2 of the biggest peahearts in world rugby? Mummy and Notso should have crawled off the ground after the first test. Instead we have Notso seagulling in the centres instead of hitting rucks and its great that mummy gets around the joint but what does he do when he gets there? Sweet F.A. Everyone has heard the oldest of rugby cliches that the game is won up front but a cliche just as old is that the heart of your team is the 2nd row. Australia has no heart or at least a very dodgy ticker. All the focus was on how great as per usual we were in the backs. If only we could get clean ball we would win every game ever.... blah blah blah. Until we address our heart disease nothing will change.
jiggles
Guest
Mumm should by a lotto ticket this week also, he is that lucky!
Chris
Guest
AAC has never had a bad game - especially in defence. O'Connor's defensive effort against England was weak. I reckon we would have stopped at least one of their tries had AAC been on instead.
Peter K
Guest
Do we have any dates on when Davies, Chambers and most importantly Higginbotham are back from injury? The only ones I know are Palu and Alexander out until northern tour. Robinson,Moore and Genia back for TN's. Anthony Faingaa did not do anything in his 2 B games to push for selection. If we want a straight runner at 12 I would put Horne at 12 and look at AAC or Chambers at 13.
Brett McKay
Expert
Willy, Morahan is still away with the U20s, Weekes did his chance no help in the last BaaBaas game, and I believe Davies, Chambers, Humphries and Higginbotham are all carrying injuries. Fair question about Hynes, and I agree with Peter's comment above. But who are you dropping to bring Anthony Faingaa in??
reds fan willy
Guest
Not to be biased, but how come there arent more reds in the team; surely laurie weeks, a faingaa, davies, chambers, humphries and higginbotham (i think are both injured), morahan, hynes and others should be in serious consideration for atleast a bench position.
Frank O'Keeffe
Guest
Let's see if Burgess can string two terrific performances together... I hope so.
Peter K
Guest
Burgess and AAC starting for the injuries were the correct choices. However I would of dumped Mumm and Maafu as well at a minimum. Also for the bench I would of recalled Hynes rather than Beale. We have no genuine cover for wing. Injuries aside what if Mitchell has a poor game since he can be up and down in form, he would have to have a real poor game to be pulled, and then who do we put on the wing Beale? Hynes or Turner were the right choice for the bench. Since Hynes cover F/B as well I would of picked Hynes. Deans has not impressed me on selections this season. His tactics to run the ball rather than kick as much as last year i.e. improvement in backline attack has been the best aspect of his coaching. The forward work in all aspects needs improvement.
Brett McKay
Guest
FOS, I thought young James might have been "rested" this week, which would/should have brought Hynes into calcs... And I'm sure that typo in the heading will get picked up shortly....
formeropenside
Guest
Gotta feel sorry for Peter Hynes - best Australian fullback in S14, can cover wing, and he cant get a run. Incredibly poor selection choice by RD.
warrenexpatinnz
Guest
Didn't think we would see anything different than that. If Burgess plays well again he could be very well the starting halfback come the TN's even if Genia is not injured? AAC will be chomping at the bit to show he deserves a starting spot every game, he in some way reminds me of O'Driscoll, a younger O'Driscoll!