Ewen McKenzie is looking for a strong reaction from his Australia team after ringing the changes for Saturday’s game with Scotland in Edinburgh.
“We’ve made some difficult selection decisions this week and now I’ll be looking to see how those individuals with an opportunity respond to the challenge,” McKenzie said yesterday after announcing a side that will have an experimental backline.
Australia have been hurt by injuries, but have been further hampered by disciplinary breaches.
The coach handed one-match bans to six members of his tour party and warned another nine on Monday after they breached team protocol with a drinking session ahead of their 32-15 victory over Ireland on Saturday.
Adam Ashley-Cooper and Nick Cummins were two of the six suspended for drinking inappropriate levels of alcohol, which means Joe Tomane and Chris Feauai-Sautia will be the starting wingers in Edinburgh.
Tomane will earn his eighth cap while Feauai-Sautia earns his second. Front-rowers Tatafu Polota-Nau and Benn Robinson lost their place on the bench, with Saia Fainga’a and Ben Alexander taking over, while openside flanker Liam Gill was replaced by Ben McCalman.
Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan was the only one of the six sanctioned players named in Saturday’s squad, with McKenzie forced to put him on the bench because of a lack of front-row numbers in his tour party.
He will serve his one-match ban in the Test against Wales in Cardiff next week.
McKenzie’s squad was hit further by a hamstring injury to Matt Toomua and a five-week ban for Tevita Kurirani after a dangerous tackle in Dublin, meaning goalkicker Christian Leali’ifano will form a new centre pairing with the versatile Mike Harris.
Harris has played eight Tests in a variety of positions for the Wallabies.
“All Spring Tour, I’ve been impressed by the competition we’ve been able to create in a number of positions,” McKenzie said.
Kelly Brown, the Scotland captain, says coach Scott Johnson made the right call when he rested him for last weekend’s 28-point thrashing to South Africa.
While the Scots were receiving a punishing four-try, 28-0 lesson from the Springboks, the captain was putting his feet up in the Murrayfield stands.
But the Saracens back-row forward insists that at age 31, there is no way he can play in every single match in both club and international rugby, and Johnson’s call was the right one to get him ready to face Australia.
“I think the week off was beneficial,” he said. “I feel fresh and I’m raring to go.
“But it is very hard to miss out on big matches. If you ask any player if he wants to play in every game, of course he will say yes.
“I completely understood the coaches’ reasoning and I’m ready to go for Saturday. I’m now into my 30s and I need to make sure that I manage myself well, that I eat well and that I do all the necessary recovery work.”
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