News article – Style E 2781

It’s expected to be 15 degrees and sunny when Ireland and Australia meet in the Subiaco Oval tomorrow and Aussie coach Eddie Jones will give his young stars free rein to express themselves and stake a claim for a place in his World Cup squad.

The two with the most to gain are the centre pairing of Morgan Turinui and Steve Kefu, Turinui making his international debut and Kefu his first start in a Test. Jones says simply that, “They’re both young but they have a lot of potential,” but he has gone on the record to say that he wants his backs to be more multi-skilled to enable him to mix and match as the situation demands.

“Defences in world rugby are so highly structured it takes a measure of unpredictability to breach them. The best attacking systems must have this element of surprise and that comes from a high level of skill.

“It just so happens a team is most unpredictable when the back three pop up to run.”

So among those Jones will be looking to will be Joe Roff, Wendell Sailor and full-back Chris Latham not just for their experience and attacking ability but also to play the newcomers into the game.

And if Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan is under any illusion about the sort of game the Wallabies will play he need just pay heed to Joe Roff who says, “Everyone is looking to take an opportunity and run with it. We’re all fighting for a World Cup place. This is an exciting back line. It will be interesting to see how it works out.”

Australia.
15 Chris Latham
14 Wendell Sailor
13 Morgan Turinui
12 Steve Kefu,
11 Joe Roff
10 Elton Flatley
9 George Gregan captain
8 Toutai Kefu
7 George Smith
6 David Lyons
5 David Giffin
4 Nathan Sharpe
3 Patricio Noriega
2 Jeremy Paul
1 Bill Young.

Replacements. 16 Brendan Cannon, 17 Ben Darwin, 18 Daniel Vickerman, 19 Phil Waugh, 20 Chris Whitaker, 21 Nathan Grey, 22 Lote Tuqiri.

Ireland.
15 Girvan Dempsey
14 James Topping
13 Geordan Murphy
12 Kevin Maggs
11 John Kelly
10 David Humphreys captain
9 Peter Stringer
8 Victor Costello
7 Keith Gleeson
6 Alan Quinlan
5 Malcolm O’Kelly
4 Gary Longwell
3 Reggie Corrigan
2 Shane Byrne
1 Marcus Horan.

Replacements. 16 Paul Shields, 17 Emmet Byrne, 18 Paul O’Connell, 19 Eric Miller, 20 Guy Easterby, 21 Ronan O’Gara, 22 Tyrone Howe.

Referee: Nigel Williams (Wales).

Touch Judges: Mark Lawrence (South Africa), Gary Wise (New Zealand).