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Jock Campbell replaces an injured Tom Banks as starting fullback for the Wallabies’ massive Test against France on Sunday AEDT, while Will Skelton hasn’t cracked the starting XV.
Campbell made his debut off the bench for the dying minutes of the 16-15 win over Scotland but now has a huge opportunity with Banks unavailable due to an ankle injury suffered during the game.
Tate McDermott, the starting No.9 last weekend, is out of the 23 as Rennie stays true to his word on the rotation of his halfbacks. Nic White will start in Paris, with Jake Gordon coming off the bench.
There is a change in the midfield as well with Lalakai Foketi who was outstanding the opening Bledisloe Cup loss in Melbourne alongside Bernard Foley, taking over from Hunter Paisami in the No.12.
Up front Taniela Tupou comes in for Allan Alaalatoa who failed a HIA in Edinburgh and faced a mandatory stand down.
France named a strong side earlier Thursday.
Of all the omissions, that of Skelton appears the most contentious. The giant France-based lock gave himself up earlier in the week when he said he was hoping for a place on the bench – after the team had been named internally, but before its announcement late Thursday.
Jock Campbell during a Wallabies training session (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Before leaving Australia, coach Dave Rennie had indicated he wanted Skelton to start all three games that he’s available for on secondment as a Giteau Law pick from La Rochelle.
Rennie’s decision to use him off the bench was pitched as tactical, as well as an endorsement for Cadeyrn Neville and Nick Frost who both impressed against the Scots.
Earlier this week Will Genia backed the two locks from Edinburgh to start and said it was hard for a player to come into camp and get their head around lineout calls immediately.
Rennie conceded: “There’s quite a bit to get your head around from that perspective.
“We felt the two locks were excellent last week and so we want to reward them with no Al, and Taniela starting, we’ve got [Tom Robertson] on the bench and we think Will coming on behind him will also help.
“It’s a big part of Test footy nowadays, you’ve also got to look at what sort of team you’re going to finish with. We reckon he’ll add a lot to that and the plan will be to start him against Italy.”
Rennie said he wanted to start Campbell in one of the opening two Tests. The Queensland Reds fullback hurt his ankle in the lead-up to Scotland Test but recovered to make the bench and gets his chance to start with Banks’ misfortune.
“He’d come out of the Australia A program with good form and he’s had a really good year,” said Rennie. “He’s trained with us for a number of weeks now and he’s really impressed us, he’s a really smart footballer, he’s got good feet and a good skill set.
“He’s not a kid, he’s had to work hard for his opportunity and at 27 he’s pretty mature, so we reckon he’s ready to go. Banksy picked up a bit of an ankle injury last week quite early in the game. He wouldn’t have been able to train Tuesday, so we made a call to give Jock a start this week. He’s very excited.”
While McDermott’s demotion fits with Rennie’s pre-tour vow to rotate his nines, he made it clear he wasn’t completely sold by the Queenslander’s core skills in comparison to White.
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
“Tate was good and we expected that. He made a line break early and he got a line bend beyond that, but it was quite noticeable when Nic White came on as well, the quality of his distribution, and his speed to breakdown which allows to play quicker and play on top,” Rennie said.
“We’ve got three excellent 9s on tour, and we’ve got an excellent 9 in Ryan Lonergan back at home, so it’s a position we’ve got genuine depth. So Whitey gets his chance this week, Jake will start next week.”
Former Wallabies No.9 Will Genia on the scrumhalf debate
Jordan Petaia misses out again and Rennie suggested he was being troubled by a minor injury and a lack of confidence in general.
“He’s got a really slight top of the hammy injury which he did prior to coming over here and he’s running freely but it’s more around squatting over a ball if he had to compete or getting low to clean out that,” said Rennie.
“He lacks a bit of confidence in that area. So we’ve really got three midfielders on tour, Kels can cover there as well. So we’re keen to rotate them as well.”
Rennie added on Foketi: “He’s been excellent this year. He had a massive year for the Waratahs. Had a really strong game when he started against Argentina and likewise against the All Blacks in Melbourne.
“Obviously only played about 20 minutes in Auckland before he got injured and so yeah we just think that he’s a bigger body, he’s got good feet, a very good skillset and we think that’ll be important this week. And we’ve made a bench where we’ve got a genuine midfield cover this week, so Hunter’s on the bench.”
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Rennie said that with a crammed program of five Tests in five weeks it was essential to rotate his team.
“We’ve talked a lot about sharing the load and we want to give guys an opportunity to push for the World Cup next year and learn more about them,” said Rennie.
“So we’ve made a handful of changes this week and we think we’ve got a really strong side on the paddock; obviously no Allan unfortunately, he got a bit of a knock on the weekend and has to sit this one out. But outside of that it’s a very strong pack and we think a good enough side to go and be competitive on Saturday, it’s going to be a challenge.”
Rennie acknowledged that next year the time for experimentation would be over heading into the World Cup.
“We’ll definitely pick and stick next year. And what we’ve got to understand is we can put our best side, or try and put our best side out every week, I reckon that’s a struggle playing five internationals in a row over here,” Rennie said.
“No one does that anymore, and for what value in the end? We’ve got a helluva lot of guys that aren’t here that we think will be part of our World Cup squad. And so it is important that we give opportunity for certain guys.
“We look at our three nines, we could play one of them every week but if he gets injured and doesn’t go to a World Cup and we’ve missed an opportunity over here.
“So certainly we got a number of positions that are tight and there’s not much in it and so guys have got an opportunity over the first three weeks to put their hand up for the Irish game, which we’ll pick as strong as team as we can. “
WALLABIES TEAM
1. James Slipper (c) (124 Tests)
2. David Porecki (8 Tests)
3. Taniela Tupou (44 Tests)
4. Nick Frost (6 Tests)
5. Cadeyrn Neville (4 Tests)
6. Jed Holloway (7 Tests)
7. Michael Hooper (122 Tests)
8. Rob Valetini (28 Tests)
9. Nic White (57 Tests)
10. Bernard Foley (74 Tests)
11. Tom Wright (19 Tests)
12. Lalakai Foketi (4 Tests)
13. Len Ikitau (22 Tests)
14. Andrew Kellaway (19 Tests)
15. Jock Campbell (1 Test)
Replacements
16. Folau Fainga’a (34 Tests)
17. Matt Gibbon (3 Tests)
18. Tom Robertson (27 Tests)
19. Will Skelton (21 Tests)
20. Pete Samu (29 Tests)
21. Jake Gordon (16 Tests)
22. Hunter Paisami (21 Tests)
23. Reece Hodge (60 Tests)