The Wallabies have made four changes to the team that got bashed by France last week for this week’s game against England at Twickenham.
After injuries and suspension worries this week, Robbie Deans has made changes to both the backs and forwards as they attempt to get the first win of the tour.
As if losing David Pocock and Kane Douglas to injury earlier in the week wasn’t bad enough, Pat McCabe was added to that list with a neck complaint. But to make matters worse, the IRB judiciary Wheel of Misfortune spun up eight weeks for lock Rob Simmons to leave the locking stocks awfully thin for the remainder of the tour.
In the backs, Berrick Barnes and Digby Ioane return to hopefully add some spark that was missing in the French game. Barnes takes the place of Mike Harris who has been relegated to the bench. Another backline shuffle sees Ioane on the wing and a new centre combination of Adam Ashley-Cooper and Ben Tapuai.
The halves combination of Nick Phipps and Kurtley Beale get another chance to prove their worth, although it would seem this could be the last chance to impress before the call for changes becomes louder.
In the front row, Ben Alexander returns from a wrist injury to take the place of Sekope Kepu at tighthead prop. Hopefully the scrum holds up this week after it was shunted into dark places last week — a sight that made the English press froth at the mouth at the thought of their scrum dominating the Wallabies.
Another change is in the second row with man-mountain Sitaleki Timani coming in for Kane Douglas, who dealt tremendously well to even make the field after his mother was hospitalised before the France game. Nathan Sharpe retains his place as the main act on his farewell tour.
Kick off for this game is 1:30am AEDT.
15. Berrick Barnes
14. Digby Ioane
13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
12. Ben Tapuai
11. Nick Cummins
10. Kurtley Beale
9. Nick Phipps
8. Wycliff Palu
7. Michael Hooper
6. Dave Dennis
5. Nathan Sharpe (c)
4. Sitaleki Timani
3. Ben Alexander
2. Tatafu Polota-Nau
1. Benn Robinson
16. Stephen Moore
17. James Slipper
18. Sekope Kepu
19. Radike Samo
20. Liam Gill
21. Brett Sheehan
22. Mike Harris
23. Drew Mitchell
