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Connolly to blood rookie prop as Australia takes on Ireland in Perth
June 21, 2006 - 1:06pm
Story by: ARU
Qantas Wallabies Coach John Connolly has today named his team for Saturday night’s Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series Test against Ireland at Subiaco Oval in Perth.
After losing hooker Adam Freier and prop Rodney Blake to injury after last weekend’s convincing 43-18 Cook Cup triumph over England, Connolly has re-called Western Force hooker Tai McIsaac to the starting team and will blood yet another rookie at prop.
24-year-old Brumbies prop Guy Shepherdson will make his Test Debut after winning selection at tighthead prop.
Shepherdson, who has earned 33 caps in three seasons of Super Rugby with the Brumbies, was an Australian Under 21s representative from 2001 to 2003.
Connolly said that he had been impressed by Shepherdson’s Super 14 campaign.
“He played pretty well through the Super 14 and we were impressed with him during our initial camp. He’s got the capacity to learn a lot more and develop his game,” said Connolly.
George Gregan returns to scrumhalf and will resume captaincy duties after eclipsing Jason Leonard’s world record with his 120th Test appearance last weekend.
Despite making just two changes to his starting lineup outside of Gregan, both forced due to injury, Connolly insisted that he had not settled on his ideal starting fifteen.
“There are still some positions we’re not 100% sure on and we’ll continue to have a look at a few combinations, particularly in the front row,” said Connolly.
“Having said that we want to play the team into some form and give players the opportunity to play together and build some cohesion.
We’ve been happy with the team’s progress in a short space of time but there’s always room for improvement,” he said.
Connolly is expecting a strong challenge from the in-form Irish team this Saturday night.
“They play a lot more direct and a lot tighter than England and there’s no doubt they’re a better team than England is at the moment,” he said.
“They played well in trying conditions last weekend and were very competitive in their series against New Zealand so they present us with a good challenge,” he added.
The winner of Saturday’s one-off Test match will receive the Lansdowne Cup. Australia are the current holders of the Cup after their 30-14 victory on last year’s Spring Tour.
Notes:
* Prop Guy Shepherdson will be the sixth Test debutant used by Australia in three Tests this season.
* Australia and Ireland have met on two prior occasions in Perth Test matches, with Australia victorious 45-16 in 2003 and 32-26 in 1999.
2006 Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series
Match: Australia v Ireland
Trophy: Lansdowne Cup
Venue: Subiaco Oval, Perth, Australia
Date: Saturday 24 June 2006
Kick Off: 6.00pm (local WA time)
Referee: Kelvin Deaker (NZ)
Qantas Wallabies:
1. Greg Holmes
2. Tai McIsaac
3. Guy Shepherdson *D
4. Nathan Sharpe
5. Dan Vickerman (vc)
6. Mark Chisholm
7. George Smith
8. Rocky Elsom
9. George Gregan (c)
10. Stephen Larkham
11. Lote Tuqiri
12. Mat Rogers
13. Stirling Mortlock (vc)
14. Mark Gerrard
15. Chris Latham
16. Jeremy Paul
17. Al Baxter
18. Wycliff Palu
19. Phil Waugh
20. Sam Cordingley
21. Clyde Rathbone
22. Cameron Shepherd
Coach: John Connolly
Key:
*D Selected for Test Debut
Unavailable for selection due to injury: Rodney Blake, Adam Freier, Matt Giteau, Daniel Heenan
Last edited by Burgs; 21-06-06 at 12:55.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
Least I got the Shepherdson for Blake not Baxter bit right!
Is interesting that Knuckles has obviously gone to settle the Squad a bit in this last Bundy Series Test rather than having one more chance to try people in different before hitting the business end of the season with six Tests against the IRB Ranked 1 and 2 teams in World Rugby.
Either he is confortable with the knowledge he has of the back up players or he is uncomfortable with his rating of the ability of those back up players as he certainly won't have current Wallaby playing knowledge to refer to if we have any injuries during the 3N.
Gits will no doubt be straight back into #12 as soon as he is fit, but apart from that, no other backs have been tried as yet to test their worth.
Considering the injuries, I would think this to be very close to our full strength side available, with the parochial exception of Staniforth for probably Rathbone and Fava for Palu.
"Bloody oath we did!"
Nathan Sharpe, Legend.
It would have been great for both us and the palyers involved to see the whole five Western Force Wallabies take the field on Saturday but I'm prepared to wait if it means getting the right team to refill the trophey cupboard (see my Gallery, that's how it usd to look). The Cook Cup is back and there are at least four more to aim for within the next few months![]()
Last edited by The InnFORCEr; 21-06-06 at 14:30.
Burgs your assessment is spot on! Thanks to the rugby gods for keeping Big Al on the bench.
It said on the tele there we're 3,000 tickets left and they be selling them at the ground.
I think all you Aussie fans are frightened to turn up and see your team get beat!
I'm off to the game now... bye! bye!
61 years between Grand SlamsWas the wait worth it - Ya betta baby
I wouldnt mind seeing Shephard getting a good 30 minutes on the park playing at fullback where he plays best, rather than the wing. When the Super 14 season finished i was almost certain that Staniforth would recieve the 12 jersey ahead of Rogers or even a fit Giteau, its a bit of a joke that he hasnt even been included in the 22 for any of the games yet. Hopefully Ireland is a bit more competitive than England.....WHO WERE SHITE!
Go the Wallabies!
Felix
****ing hell, what good is running through the oz defence for ffs, at times we looked alright, but i'd say we were pish![]()
Ease up on ya boys there boyo - to my mind the Irish played a bloody good open game of Rugby!
Me and 2 mates went down but there were only gold tickets left!!! and we were not going to pay $75 to see a Wallabies vs Ireland game!!! although we did hand around to here "Irish call" that song is awesome. Haha ironic how one of my mates is South African and the other is Scottish... he has not been to happy for the last few weeks![]()
Looks Like Matt Rodgers and Clyde Rathbone are injured - if this is the case the door is open for 2 more Force guys Matt Giteau in for Rodgers and Scott Staniforth for Rathbone![]()
Brother Gallagher I hear you
Rogers for me was never good enough to fill in at inside centre...
Looks like Rodgers is OK, and he did show enough form to keep his spot, although he does have a tendancy to get hurt a bit too often
what happened to rathbone - wasn't on for much more than 10 minutes?
Chuck Norris has the greatest Poker-Face of all time. He won the 1983 World Series of Poker, despite holding only a Joker, a Get out of Jail Free Monopoly card, a 2 of clubs, 7 of spades and a green #4 card from the game Uno.
did a hammy...out for 4-5 weeks