Rugby: Deans puts test places up for grabs

Robbie Deans has dangled the carrot under his rookies' noses, saying test spots will be up for grabs when the Australian Barbarians take on England at Perth's ME Bank Stadium tomorrow night.

Known to pick on form, Deans often says the test team is constantly a moving target and, true to his word, the Wallabies coach has already introduced 20-odd players to international rugby since taking charge in 2008.

The best case of a left-field player earning a test call-up from the "dirt trackers" came on last year's spring tour when Quade Cooper delivered a commanding man-of-the-match display against Gloucester and found himself playing at Twickenham five days later.

Cooper has been a fixture in the test side ever since and produced another starring performance, starting at five-eighth for the first time in Australia's 49-3 dispatch of Fiji in Canberra on Saturday night.

Deans yesterday challenged his second-stringers to step up against Australia's World Cup nemesis.

"It will be an international essentially, so we've got another 22 blokes getting that experience.

"We saw last year through the mid-weekers when we were playing franchise sides - who were essentially international combinations because they had so many foreign internationals - that it's an opportunity for players to emerge.

"Not only are they getting a background of experience, but they're also getting an opportunity to promote themselves within the group.

"It's not out of the way, it's not out of the question, for blokes to press their claims for a test spot, and that's a big part of the motivation."

The Western Force dominate the Barbarians team, boasting five players in the starting XV, with flanker Matt Hodgson and prop Pekahou Cowan to back up from Saturday night.

Fullback James O'Connor, winger Nick Cummins and blindside flanker Ben McCalman are the other Force players included in the run-on side for the first of two mid-week clashes with England.

Cummins and McCalman are two of five players uncapped at international level, with Queensland Reds trio Anthony Faingaa, Will Chambers and Laurie Weeks the other rookies.

NSW pair Damien Fitzpatrick and Kane Douglas and Reds prop James Slipper are the three uncapped players named on the bench.

Australian sevens captain Pat McCutcheon is also included among the substitutes as Deans makes good on his intention to give all of the players in his 40-man squad opportunities within the first week of the international season.

Hooker Huia Edmonds, who made his test debut against Fiji, is one of eight players included in the Barbarians line-up who were involved on Saturday night, but the only one who started against the Pacific Islanders.

Regular test winger Peter Hynes will make his comeback from minor knee surgery via the bench, while Waratahs playmaker Berrick Barnes and Brumbies skipper Stephen Hoiles will share the captaincy.

- AAP