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Wallabies welcome 10 new faces into side for first-ever clash against Georgia
By Online Editors
Wallabies head coach Michael Cheika has made 10 personnel changes to his starting 15 ahead of Friday's final Rugby World Cup Pool Stage clash with Georgia in Shizuoka.
There are five faces that remain from the 45-10 defeat of Uruguay, with Jack Dempsey, Nic White, Matt To’omua, Kurtley Beale all retained, while exciting rookie Jordan Petaia swaps to the right wing.
David Pocock will captain the new-look side in Michael Hooper’s absence as his workload is eased ahead of a probable World Cup quarter-final in Oita next weekend.
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Remarkably, it’s just the seventh time Hooper will start off the bench in what’s set to be his 99th test appearance, and only the second time he’s done so with Michael Cheika as coach.
To’omua will wear the No. 10 jersey for the first time this year, having finished last season at flyhalf for the Wallabies end-of-year clashes against Italy and England.
Friday's clash will be the first meeting in test history between Australia and Georgia, with the world's 11th-ranked side competing primarily in the Rugby Europe Championship.
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Latest Comments
But he chose rightly or wrongly to play for Tonga. If he wanted to play for the ABs why didn’t he hold off?
Go to comments“A succession of recent ex-players going straight back into the game as coaches in their early 40’s would prob be enough to kill it stone-dead. Innovation would die a death.”
Would it? I do think one of the major differences between rugby and most other sports - which we’ve been overlooking - is the degree to which players are expected to lead team meetings & analysis sessions and the like. Someone like Owen Farrell has basically been an assistant coach already for ten years - and he’s been so under a variety of different head coaches with different expectations and playing styles.
“The most interesting ppl I have met in the game have all coached well into their sixties and they value the time and opportunity they have had to reflect and therefore innovate in the game. That’s based on their ability to compare and contrast between multiple eras.”
I don’t doubt that that’s true. But having interesting insights doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be the best able to inspire a team, or the best at managing the backroom staff.
“Wayne Smith winning the WWC in his mid sixties three years ago prob means nothing to you but it meant a lot to him. It took him back to the roots of is own coaching journey.”
I don’t doubt that! But I don’t think coaches should be hired on the basis that it means a lot to them.
“The likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Wayne Bennett and Andy Reid all have a tale to tell. You should open your ears and listen to it!”
I agree! Never have I ever suggested otherwise!
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