Wallaby boss Ewen McKenzie’s decision to name an unchanged pack from the one that shone so brightly in the win over Ireland suggests that it could be more of the same in Cardiff, while his backline alterations hint at how he may deal with the loss of first-choice centre partnership Matt Toomua and Tevita Kuridrani at the Millennium Stadium.
McKenzie has opted to start Christian Leali’ifano in the No13 shirt, with Mike Harris named at No12. Leali’ifano is far more accustomed to playing inside centre or fly-half and even full back but McKenzie had few options available to him given Toomua’s serious knee injury, Kuridrani’s suspension and the internal ban served on Adam Ashley-Cooper and Nick Cummins.
Ashley-Cooper would have been an obvious choice to replace Kuridrani but he and Cummins were among six players to be handed suspensions for inappropriate alcohol consumption in Dublin last week. The veteran wing cum centre cum full back will be available for the final Dove Men Series Test a week on Saturday but Harris and Leali’ifano have the chance to secure their selection with a strong showing in Edinburgh.
Elsewhere in the backline, McKenzie makes two further changes as Joe Tomane and Chris Feauai-Sautia replace Ashley-Cooper and Cummins on the wings. Tomane featured against a number of Wales players in the second and third Tests of the summer Lions series but 20-year-old Feauai-Sautia has just one Test cap to his name.
“We’ve made some difficult selection decisions this week and now I’ll be looking to see how those individuals with an opportunity respond to the challenge,” said McKenzie, whose team are searching for a third straight win following their 50-point thrashing of Italy and the 32-15 success in Ireland.
“All spring tour I’ve been impressed by the competition we’ve been able to create in a number of positions. Now, some of those guys get a chance to impress in new roles this week.
“Christian hasn’t had a great deal of experience at outside centre but he is a class player and we’re confident he can adjust to the position. We’ll be asking him to bring the things he does well to the game and nothing more.
“At the other end, we have the luxury of naming an unchanged forward pack from last week’s win. I was really impressed by how they stood up against a stout Ireland pack and now it’s their job to replicate and improve on that effort against Scotland.”
Australia (v Scotland, Murrayfield, Saturday, 6pm)
Israel Folau, Joe Tomane, Christian Leali’ifano, Mike Harris, Chris Feauai-Sautia, Quade Cooper, Will Genia, James Slipper, Stephen Moore, Sekope Kepu, Rob Simmons, James Horwill, Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, Ben Mowen (capt)
Replacements: Saia Fainga’a, Ben Alexander, Paddy Ryan, Sitaleki Timani, Ben McCalman, Nic White, Nick Phipps, Bernard Foley
