Tried to do the table and the logos but not much of a computer whizz!Wales: 15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 George North, 12 Jamie Roberts,11 Liam Williams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Rhys Webb; 8 Toby Faletau, 7 Sam Warburton(captain), 6 Dan Lydiate, 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Samson Lee,2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Paul James. Replacements: 16 Scott Baldwin, 17 Gethin Jenkins, 18 RhodriJones, 19 Bradley Davies, 20 Justin Tipuric, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 RhysPriestland, 23 Cory Allen.Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Christian Leali'ifano, 11 Joe Tomane, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Nick Phipps, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Sean McMahon, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Sam Carter, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Saia Fainga'a, 1 James Slipper.
Replacements: 16 James Hanson, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Ben Alexander, 19 James Horwill, 20 Will Skelton, 21 Matt Hodgson, 22 Will Genia, 23 Quade Cooper, 24 Rob Horne.
Date: Saturday, November 07
Kick-off: 14:30 GMT
Venue: Millenium Stadium, Cardiff
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
With less than 12 months to the worldcup, Wales and Australia lock horns this Saturday looking to put some unevenform in 2014 behind them. It’s not long since Australia put the disappointmentof the 2013 Lions tour and the unsuccessful (certainly the latterstages) regime of Robbie Deans behind them and appointed former Wallaby prop EwenMacKenzie as head coach. After a first match loss to England the Wallabiesrattled off 7 consecutive wins together following their successful tour to theNorthern Hemisphere and that followed on by a 3-0 whitewash of the French inthe summer, and a hard fought draw in the opening Bledisloe match – which endedtheir bitter rivals New Zealand’s consecutive winning streak – had the countrybelieving that they were a nation to be feared ahead of next year’s World Cup.In between there was also a first Super Rugby title for an Australian franchisesince 2004 when the brilliant Stephen Larkham and George Gregan were in theirpomp for the Brumbies. The Waratahs were this year’s victorious franchisesecuring their own first triumph in the process and were backboned by youngstars such as Michael Hooper, Bernard Foley, Nick Phipps and of course IsraelFolau. The consensus was that these young guns allied to the veteran help ofthe likes of Adam Ashley Cooper, Wycliff Palu, Scott Fardy etc, would seeAustralia again going to be considered as equals to their great SouthernHemisphere rivals.However a lot can change very quickly inthe game of rugby and so it did for Australia. Michael Hooper, young as he is, did such abrilliant job captaining the Waratahs and the Wallabies, in the final superrugby matches and the wins against the French respectively, but this perhaps maskedthe loss of the inspirational Stephen Moore, so often the glue in the tightexchanges for club and country. The aforementioned Moore was cruelly strickendown barely five minutes into his international debut as captain in the firsttest against the French. His loss was perhaps more keenly felt as the falloutthat has ensued the past month may have been handled differently with thepopular hooker in the squad overseeing player welfare and dressing room morale.After the drawn match in Bledisloe 1 the Wallabies were then unceremoniouslythrashed by their great cross Tasman rivals. They then stuttered to wins overArgentina and South Africa with a certain amount of controversy surrounding theSouth African win, when Bryan Habana was sin binned for a rather innocuouschallenge late in the game that seemed to swing the momentum to the home side. They fared better in the return fixtureagainst the Boks in Capetown but were let down by a poor final 15 minutes wherethe hosts ran in three tries in quick succession to put a rather flatteringgloss on the scoreline. By this stage there seemed to be a bit of discontent inthe camp as McKenzie chopped and changed with his starting line up, mostnotably in the all important half back pairing where Kurtley Beale wasinitially favoured ahead of the man in possession of the 10 jersey at theWaratahs, Bernard Foley. Amongst rumours of player unrest the lid was finallyblown off when Beale was reprimanded for an altercation with Wallabies officialDi Patston that lead to his removal from the match day 23 against Argentina.What followed was an ugly meltdown in the Argentinian match which finallygranted the Argies with their much deserved first win in the RugbyChampionship. Upon arrival back in Australia, it was declared that Beale was tobe investigated about texts he was said to have directed towards Patston whileMcKenzie’s reputation was called into question.Things looked good on the pitch howeveras the Wallabies were ten minutes to securing a much needed win (and firstsince 2011) against the All Blacks in Bledisloe 3 only to capitulate in thefinal ten minutes allowing a last minute try and conversion from Colin Sladecondemning them to yet another heart breaking loss at the hands of the AllBlacks. McKenzie swiftly resigned in the post match press conference and theworst kept secret in rugby union came to the surface as Michael Cheika wasannounced (rather hurriedly – he was appointed 72 hours before their flight toLondon) as McKenzie’s successor. Cheika will look to bring a hard edge to theWallabies not unlike he successfully did as coach of both Leinster and the ‘Tahs and he willhave enough support initially in the dressing room to fast-track his ideals onthe rest of the squad in such a short turnaround before this week’s game.This week he has kept faith in the teamthat came so agonisingly close to beating the all blacks with only Scott Fardyand Scott Higginbottom ruled out due to injury. Ben McCalman comes in for alike for like switch at the base of the scrum but it will be at blindsideflanker that most eyes will be drawn to as rising starlet Sean McMahon makeshis international debut. He featured in last week’s win over the barbarians butas that is not a recognised test, this will be his first cap. He has long shownconsiderable promise at the Melbourne Rebels, as captain of the Wallabies U-20side and maybe more importantly, as a member of the Australian 7s squad, so itwill come as no surprise to many Australian fans that his star has risen soquick. The tight five, so often maligned inAustralian circles, has a settled look to it with young second rows Sam Carterand Rob Simmons forming a burgeoning second row partnership. However it is inbacks that the Australians will pose their greatest threat. Nick Phipps andBernard Foley have a great understanding of each others games built on theirrelationship at club level and they will be flanked by the back in favourChristian Leali’ifano and the strong running Tevita Kuridrani. Newly cappedcenturion Adam Ashley Cooper is on the right wing with Joe Tomane on the other.In between them is the brilliant Israel Folau who is a match winner all byhimself. Australia will be looking to feed this back three in space and if theycan, they could cause havoc behind the Welsh gainline.And what of Wales? Often declared as someof the most rugby loving fans, the Welsh have been deprived of seeing much oftheir own home-grown superstars in the valleys the past few years. Players suchas Jonathon Davies, Jamie Roberts, Leigh Halfpenny, Dan Lydiate among otherswere tempted by the scones and baguettes (and perhaps the European currency 
) and set sail to France.Others like George North and Richard Hibbard moved abroad but slightly closer and are now residingin the Aviva Premiership. As a result, the Welsh regions while beingcompetitive in their domestic league, have not been at the true business end ofthe European Cup for a few years now. However, much to the derision of theIrish fans who so often have tasted European club rugby glory in the past tenyears with a lack of comparable six nation or world cup success, the Welsh seemto thrive when they get together in the national set up and don the famous redjersey and as a result, six nations glory has never been long in coming. This past six nations saw a rare two losscampaign for the Welsh in a stop start tournament for them. They lookedlaboured against the Irish and English but dazzled in the French and Scottishmatches. They headed to South Africa in the summer and were comprehensivelybeaten by the Boks in the first of their tests but then in the second matchthey built up what seemed like an unassailable advantage only to see theSpringboks come back from the brink of defeat with a last ditch penalty try thefinal nail in the coffin. Again another chance to take the prized scalp of aSouthern Hemisphere team went a begging for the Dragons.Liam Williams, the man who committed thaterror of not wrapping his arms in an effort to keep out flying South Africanwinger Cornall Hendricks, splits opinions on his place in the Welsh team butthere is no doubting his undeniable talent when he can keep his emotions incheck. He has been in fantastic form this year for the Scarlets and withJonathon Davies and Scott Williams unavailable due to injury, Warren Gatlandhas made life easier on himself and moved the young Phenom George North to theoutside centre role in an effort to get both Williams and the metronomic LeighHalfpenny on the field together. Now not for a minute would Gatland place Northin the very difficult position of outside centre if he wasn’t fully confidentthat he could perform there. He has lined out in that position for club andcountry before, most notably when the visiting Saints upset Leinster in theAviva last December. The Backline is rounded off with the man mountain JamieRoberts at inside centre and the form half back pairing of Rhys Webb and DanBiggar. Biggar has made the fly half jersey his own this year and his greatform this campaign can probably be some way attributed to the form also beingshown by Webb at club level. A throwback to the smaller, silky passing numbernines that have somewhat been replaced by the “extra backrower” type recently,Webb combines great pace at the base of scrums and rucks with a whippingdelivery that puts his backline on the front foot. His clash with Phipps shouldbe an explosive one.In the pack gone are Lions tour veteransGethin Jenkins and Adam Jones, replaced by Paul James and Samson Lee and inbetween is the diminutive heat seeking missile that is Richard Hibbard. Lionsseries clinching captain Alun Wyn Jones is partnered by his club mate Jake Ballin the engine room and it is the familiar trio of Dan Lydiate, Sam Warburtonand TobyFaletau that make up the back row. Lydiate can count himself maybe slightly fortunateto be starting but Warren Gatland has always been a huge admirer of the 2012 sixnations player of the year and he is confident that he is in good enough physicalcondition despite a rough past few month at Racing Metro where he saw little orno game time. If he is struggling at around the hour mark, Gatland knows he canspring the speedy Justin Tipuric from the bench to add a keener attackinglink man if required.Bothteams have an expansive look about them and with a new pitch being laid down inthe millennium stadium and also with the control of the roof being open orclosed, one hopes that optimal playing conditions will be achieved this week inCardiff. Both nations have a long and storied history of playing attackingrugby and it is hoped that another classic is in store this week. There areinteresting battles all over the field but perhaps one is hoping that North andFolau meet once again as they did so entertainingly as in the summer of 2013 The fact that Craig Joubert takes charge too can be seen as a positive as he is always in favour of keeping the game flowing and favouring the attacking sides. Prediction:While the Australians seem to be in a bit of disarray when it comes to off thepitch, it can be argued that their current run of three tests without a win isto be taken with a pinch of salt. They performed admirably in Capetown, leadingfor long periods of that game before eventually capitulating late on. A linecan be drawn through the Argentinian game considering the modd off the pitch and much more stock can be put intotheir gallant performance last time out against the all blacks. With a newcoach in force, morale should be on the up as well and the fact that they havehad a game (all be it against the baa baas) since arriving on these shores,will stand to them too. The Welsh are never more dangerous when they are notbeing talked about as is the case this week. All talk has been about theAustralian back room team and with a settled back room team in place in the Welshdugout, they will be confident of altering their recent horrendous recordagainst Southern Hemisphere sides. Australia are the more battle hardened sideand it could take the welsh, who have not got as many settled combinations intheir lineup as in times past, a bit of time to match the Aussie match fitness.However, with the decided advantage of having the dead eyed Leigh Halfpenny attheir disposal for kicking duties who is up against the often flaky placekicking of Bernard Foley, this surely will keep Wales in touch if the wallabiesever look like breaking too far away. In the end I think that the fact that theWallabies have continuity on their side might just get them over the line.Australia by 5 in what might be talked about as the game of the weekend comeSunday morning.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w6.vanillicon.com/v2/6081e4655739e0887aaf16222f88b015.svg)
