Australia v South Africa '06 #2

2006 Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series
Tri-Nations Match 5

Match: Australia v South Africa
Trophy: Tri-Nations and Mandela Plate
Venue: Telstra Stadium, Sydney
Date: Saturday 5 August 2006
Kick off: 8.05pm (AEST)
Referee: Joel Jutge (FRA)

Qantas Wallabies:

1. Greg Holmes
2. Tai McIsaac :force:
3. Rodney Blake
4. Nathan Sharpe :force:
5. Dan Vickerman (vc)
6. Rocky Elsom
7. George Smith
8. Wycliff Palu
9. George Gregan (c)
10. Stephen Larkham
11. Lote Tuqiri
12. Matt Giteau :force:
13. Stirling Mortlock (vc)
14. Mark Gerrard
15. Chris Latham

16. Jeremy Paul
17. Guy Shepherdson
18. Mark Chisholm
19. Phil Waugh
20. Sam Cordingley
21. Mat Rogers
22. Clyde Rathbone

Coach: John Connolly

Unavailable for selection due to injury: Al Baxter, Adam Freier, Daniel Heenan, Alex Kanaar, Sam Norton-Knight

A win to the Wallabies will see the return of the Mandela Plate to the fairly bare Australian mantle piece for the first time since John Eales held it aloft in 2000.

George Gregan will play his 56th Test as captain, surpassing John Eales's record of 55 Tests as Wallabies Captain between 1996 and 2001.

Wycliff Palu makes his first run on start having benched and come on against England and Ireland this year. There have been six Test Debuts so far this season.

Phil Waugh should make his 50th Test appearance for the Wallabies, having played every Test of 2006. If he takes the field this Saturday night, the 26-year-old Waratahs back rower will become just the sixth member of the current Wallabies squad to have won 50 Test caps.

Glad to see he stuck with Elsom, he's been a standout performer this year

I agree Moses, I really like Elsom except he just needs to harness his agression to make the next step. If Knuckles can continue to mould him I think Elsom will be a stand out come France.

true.. looking at McCaw's man of the match performance last week he was so close to being sent off it's not funny!

Is there a rotation policy with the hookers?

You know what us hookers are like.....

Hookers in all sense of the word, don`t mind a bit of rotation at all.....
Just jokes mate, and mrs gerry...
I once helped coach paly`s women way back, and the young girl who happened to be hooker was also seeing my brother, so we were good mates. Anyhow, i taught her how to play hooker and she was bloody good, for her tiny size, tough as nails too...
So, whenever we went out together, which was a lot of the time, well, we always would introduce ourselves as two hookers for the price of one....
You should have seen some of the looks we used to get...

They sure as hell get around that's for sure.

Intersting that Palu is starting, might give him a kick up the bum, he tends to go missing at times.