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Major midfield selection shock on the cards for Wallabies
By Online Editors
Michael Cheika is poised to announce one of the biggest gambles of his Wallabies coaching career by fielding teenager Jordan Petaia in the midfield for their World Cup quarter-final against England.
Multiple media sources have reported that Cheika has dumped outside centre James O'Connor and will play 19-year-old Petaia in that position in Oita on Saturday, for the first time in his short Test career.
Petaia became Australia's youngest World Cup player when he made an excellent Test debut against Uruguay on the left wing two weeks ago.
He was switched to the right wing for his second appearance, against Georgia last week where he had a quiet outing.
Cheika has attracted criticism for experimenting through the pool stage but this switch will come without any sort of trial run.
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A hamstring niggle meant the youngster was unavailable to face Fiji and Wales in the first two pool games.
Queensland Reds back Petaia is regarded as one of the country's brightest attacking talents but has barely played in 2019 after seriously injuring his foot in the second round of Super Rugby on March 2.
He still wasn't fit enough for the Rugby Championship program and the hamstring issue sidelined him from last month's warmup Test against Samoa.
O'Connor impressed in Australia's win over Fiji in Sapporo a month ago but appears to have paid for two ineffectual outings since.
While Cheika looks set to name a predictable forward pack, other surprising backline changes appear on the cards for the Test which will bring the curtain down on his Wallabies career if they lose.
The coach looks set to field centurion Will Genia at halfback, having favoured Nic White through most of 2019.
Kurtley Beale is poised to start at fullback and Reece Hodge on the wing, leaving no room for the in-form Dane Haylett-Petty.
Beale is believed to have passed his concussion protocol after being forced off against Georgia following a heavy head knock.
- AAP
Australia are set to name Christian Lealiifano at 10 for their quarterfinal clash with England - but would he be able to play three games in a row?:
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Latest Comments
Yeah well you guys couldn't do it at home could you, never mind in Italia. Theyve been good for a few years now, 23' when France and Ireland were at their best were arguably better Italian performances than this years 6N results.
My point was of course they don't want to get ahead of themselves and then lose against teams that they should be beating. That's the difficulty with getting better and better.
Go to commentsThey’re being dressed as midfielders. Neither of them is a natural midfielder, they’re both converts.
You can call a rose by any other name, yada yada, as Billy Shakespeare says. Semantics.
New Zealand went all the way from having a surplus of midfielders in about 2015 to having to convert wingers and two different utility backs (Havili, Jordie). How did that happen?
All the while actual specialist 12s and 13s are not even getting a proper shot. Laumape lost patience with that nonsense. Big Leicester as well (now that’s a winger convert that would actually make sense at 13). It’s literally stupid not to try players out.
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