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Wallabies set to make a change in the halves
By AAP
Nic White will return to the Wallabies starting side at halfback ahead of Tate McDermott for Saturday's Rugby Championship rematch with South Africa.
The world champion Springboks will be seething after Quade Cooper's long-range penalty after the siren sunk them in a 28-26 loss on Sunday.
They'll meet again inside a week at Suncorp Stadium, where the Wallabies have won their last eight tests.
Nursing a shin injury, McDermott remained off after the break on Sunday and White made the most of his extra time on the park.
He kicked a 50-22 early in the second half and then forced the decisive penalty after Australia had turned over a scrum just seconds before fulltime.
McDermott has played nine tests and started in his last five, earning the respect of his rivals for his probing attack, desperate defence and improved kicking.
But 40-test veteran White's game management will be equally crucial against a Springboks side intent on turning the tables after Australia beat them at their own game on the Gold Coast.
"They're big and they'll be angry and no doubt it's going to hurt this weekend," former Wallabies fullback Chris Latham said of South Africa.
"I don't think they'll change much from their game plan, I just think their execution will be far better."
Cooper's exploits in his test return make him a hard man to replace in the No 10 despite James O'Connor being fit and available after missing the previous seven tests this year.
In an effort to play both, Latham lobbed up the left-field option of moving O'Connor back to fullback, where he featured in his previous life as a Wallaby more than a decade ago.
But that would mean dropping Tom Banks, who is one of just three to start all seven tests this year.
Game-breaking prop Taniela Tupou is likely to start in the Wallabies' front row after Allan Alaalatoa left the squad for the birth of his child.
Whether Dave Rennie finds room for centre Hunter Paisami in the 23 is another question, given the form of No.12 Samu Kerevi and his partnership with Cooper and fledgling outside centre Len Ikitau.
- Murray Wenzel
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Latest Comments
Recent complaints that SA players have a 12-month workload isn't of itself a credible enough excuse to lay at the door of EPCR administrators. If SA clubs want to participate in NH league and club competitions and also participate in SH internationals, then clearly something has to give.
From the EPCR perspective, I do think that the format/schedule issues can be fixed if there's a strong enough desire to remove some of the logistical challenges clubs are facing with these long and frequent trips across the hemispheres.
From the SA player workload perspective however, I'm not sure how players can participate safely and competitively at both the club and international levels. Perhaps - and as Rassie appears to be developing, SA develop a super squad with sufficient player numbers and rotation to allow players to compete across the full 12-month calendar.
Bottom line though, is the geographical isolation is always going to restrict SA's ability to having the best of both worlds.
Go to commentsMoriaty refused to play for wales also he’s injured, France’s is being coy about wales, North in the dark but Sam David and jerad are you joking their not good enough
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