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Wallabies coach John Connolly has defended the snubbing of George Smith just hours after the flanker captained his country for the first time.
Less than 12 hours after praising Smith for his "whale of a performance" in the Wallabies' humiliating 16-24 loss to Welsh club side Ospreys, Connolly
and fellow selectors Scott Johnson and Michael O'Connor yesterday omitted the 69-test veteran from the test side to play Wales at the Millennium Stadium tomorrow.
It is the first time Smith has been dropped completely from the test side, after being unable to hold his bench spot, with Stephen Hoiles preferred.
"He [Smith] is not in the team and he's disappointed but I'm sure that he'll be back," Connolly said.
"He'll be back for the next test. In terms of this particular game, we put a plan in place before the tour."
That plan was to play Phil Waugh as the openside flanker after Smith's long-time rival for the position was called up for the test line-up for the last two Tri-Nations matches.
Still, few would have expected there would be no room on the bench for a player widely considered to be the second best openside flanker in world rugby behind New Zealand's Richie McCaw.
But there wasn't, with Hoiles, a No 8, recalled after two years in the test wilderness.
"We thought Waugh's form was strong in the New Zealand test and, for this particular test, Hoiles' lineout ability off the bench [gave him the edge]," Connolly said.
"That doesn't mean we may not go for the two shorter guys [Waugh and Smith] in the future, but it does take some reconfiguring in the lineouts."
The dropping of Smith is just one part of an industrial-scale reshuffle.
With George Gregan sitting out the tour, Matt Giteau, usually a centre, gets an extended run at halfback.
Mat Rogers starts at first five-eighths while usual No 10 Stephen Larkham plays second five-eighths, alongside Lote Tuqiri, a winger.
Only four Wales players survive in the starting team from the side that beat Australia 24-22 last November.
Gavin Henson, back close to his best after missing the tour to Argentina, returns to link up again in the centres with Tom Shanklin.
Gareth Thomas, fully recovered from the burst artery in his neck that threatened his career, will earn his 89th cap as a winger while the ever-popular Kevin Morgan is at fullback after returning from yet more surgery.
With new captain Stephen Jones running outside halfback Dwayne Peel and Shane Williams on the right wing, it is a backline full of pace and creativity and capable of piercing any defence.
With Gareth Jenkins still settling into the role as coach, and the dust still not entirely settled after the departure of predecessor Mike Ruddock, Wales are also in something of a developmental stage.
But with the teams destined to meet again next September at the same stadium in the pool stages of the World Cup, both will be eager to put down a marker.
Cardiff, 3.30am tomorrow
WALES
Kevin Morgan, Gareth Thomas, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams, Stephen Jones (c), Dwayne Peel, Ryan Jones, Martyn Williams, Jonathan Thomas, Ian Evans, Ian Gough, Adam Jones, Matthew Rees, Gethin Jenkins
Reserves: Rhys Thomas, Duncan Jones, Gavin Thomas, Alun Wyn Jones, Michael Phillips, James Hook, Mark Jones.
AUSTRALIA
Chris Latham, Clyde Rathbone, Lote Tuqiri, Stephen Larkham, C. Shepherd, Mat Rogers, Matt Giteau, Wycliff Palu, Phil Waugh (c), Rocky Elsom, Dan Vickerman, Nathan Sharpe, Rodney Blake, Tai McIsaac, Al Baxter
Reserves: Brendan Cannon, Benn Robinson, Mark Chisholm, Stephen Hoiles, Josh Valentine, Mark Gerrard, Adam Ashley-Cooper Captain for a day - then dumped
- REUTERS
