Eddie Jones leans on youth to revitalise stuttering Wallabies

DUNEDIN – Australia coach Eddie Jones on Thursday said that the Wallabies are “remodelling” with young players, believing youthful vigour can halt a slump with just five weeks before the Rugby World Cup kicks off in France.

The Australian has made scrum-half Tate McDermott captain for the Bledisloe Cup Test in Dunedin this Saturday, with three starting changes made to the team who were thrashed 38-7 by New Zealand in Melbourne last week.

By contrast, the All Blacks have retained only three starting players from that game, with coach Ian Foster keen to assess all of his squad, safe in the knowledge that the Bledisloe Cup has already been retained.

Under mounting pressure after losing his first three games in charge, Jones said it was obvious that change was needed and did not rule out the possibility of McDermott, 24, leading the Wallabies at the World Cup, having initially named James Slipper and the injured Michael Hooper as co-captains.

“We’re definitely remodelling the team. We need to change the team from where we’ve been and part of it is definitely the leadership aspect,” he said.

“Tate’s captain for this game, but we’ll assess it at the end of the tournament and then we go into World Cup mode.

“This has been a period we’ve been finding out a lot about the team, finding out what’s good, what’s not so good, where are we strong, where are we not strong.

“The nucleus of any good team going forward is the leadership and the captain’s obviously a massive part of that.”

The appointment of McDermott means Nic White is again on the bench alongside experienced half-back partner Quade Cooper, with Jones keeping faith in rookie fly-half Carter Gordon despite a nervy performance last weekend.

The former England boss has made three changes to his pack.

Pone Fa’amausili is at tight-head prop in place of Allan Alaalatoa, who suffered an injury while leading the team last week, while Richie Arnold replaces Will Skelton at lock.

A reshuffle to the back row sees Fraser McReight recalled at open-side flanker, pushing Tom Hooper to blind-side flanker in place of Jed Holloway.

It is the seventh-lowest capped Wallabies starting XV in the professional era, with just 277 Tests played between them.

“We’ve got to improve the team and I’ve decided to improve the team through promoting the young players,” Jones said. “That doesn’t mean that the senior players haven’t got a crucial role to play... but at the moment we’re going to go through a bit of up and down.”

The All Blacks will field an experimental side to give fringe players the chance to play themselves into contention for the World Cup starting on Sept 8.

Foster, who will name his World Cup squad on Monday, included Test debutants Shaun Stevenson and Samipeni Finau in his starting line-up for the Test in Dunedin with another uncapped player, Dallas McLeod, on the bench.

Out-side back Stevenson and blind-side flanker Finau were two of the form players in this season’s Super Rugby Pacific for the Waikato Chiefs, whose fly-half Damian McKenzie will get another chance in the No. 10 shirt on Saturday.

Only No. 8 Ardie Savea and lock Brodie Retallick retain their starting spots, the latter now joined by Sam Whitelock in an imposing second row.

Sam Cane returns from injury to skipper the team from the open-side flank after Savea led the All Blacks in Melbourne.

“This Test is special for us as we finish this stage of our preparation for later in the year,” Foster said.

“It is our last chance to play in front of our fans and, even with some changes, it is a big opportunity for us to take another step forward as a team. We can’t wait.” AFP, REUTERS