Deans shuffles his Wallaby pack
Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:47
Big-hitting Wallaby loose forward Wycliff Palu (right)
Australia coach Robbie Deans has made three changes, all in the pack, to his line-up for the Test match against France at the Stade de France on Saturday.
As expected Wycliff Palu comes in at No.8 in place of the injured Richard Brown having taken over from him in the 45th minute of last Saturday's 28-14 win over England at Twickenham.
Also in the back row, Dean Mumm takes over at flanker from Hugh McMeniman who switches into the second row in place of Mark Chisholm.
In the front row Ben Alexander - who will be starting only his second ever professional match - comes in to replace Benn Robinson at loose-head prop.
"Benn Robinson was good in the last match," said Deans.
"But he has played a lot and we wanted to inject some new blood.
"Ben Alexander showed in the match against Italy (the Australians won 30-20 earlier this month) and in the two tests against France in Australia (The Wallabies won both matches 34-13 and 40-10 in June) that he was up to the job."
The Australians started their autumn tour with a 14-19 loss to New Zealand in Hong Kong and then beat the Italians in Padua before enacting World Cup revenge on the English - England having beaten Australia in the quarterfinals last year.
Australian captain Stirling Mortlock - one of the few survivors from the last Australian side to defeat France back in 2000 - will make his 75th appearance for the Wallabies and is looking for the team to carry on from where they left off against England.
"Playing the French is extremely tough," said Mortlock.
"They are very proud of their rugby history, and they have so much flair with backs that can score tries.
"But hopefully we can build on what we have done on this tour. Our mindset is pretty positive.
"However there is a lot more improvement to come."
Mortlock, who made his international debut in 2000, said that while victory over England was great for morale, the Australians were totally focussed on the clash with France.
"I think prior to the England match we knew we were positive about the task in hand," said Mortlock.
"It was great to win but that was out of our minds come Monday morning when we turned our attention to the French."
Mortlock said that having Deans come in as coach had been a breath of fresh air.
"He (Deans) is our first foreign coach and has brought different ideas and is extremely positive," said Mortlock.
However, Mortlock said that to infer that Deans had brought the same spirit as he had infused in his successful tenure as Crusaders coach was wrong.
"There are no Crusaders in this team mate, we are all Aussies and we are there to show the traditional Aussie spirit. We are proud of our history and tradition."
Australia: 15 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Stirling Mortlock (captain), 11 Drew Mitchell,
10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Dean Mumm; 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Hugh McMeniman, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Ben Alexander
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Sekope Kepu, 18 Mark Chisholm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Digby Ioane
Date: Saturday November 22
Venue: Stade de France
Time: 21:00 (20:00 GMT)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Chris White (England) , David Changleng (Scotland)
TMO: Giulio De Santis (Italy)
AFP
