Rugby: Cheika delays naming of side until Friday

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is delaying the announcement of his side for this weekend's test against the All Blacks until tomorrow. Photo / Photosport

Wallabies coach Michael Cheika is keeping the All Blacks guessing, delaying his team naming until the eve of Saturday's Bledisloe Cup finale in Auckland.

Cheika is weighing up the pros and cons of thrusting rookie locks Rory Arnold and Adam Coleman into the Eden Park cauldron or recall the reliable second-row pairing of Kane Douglas and chief lineout caller Rob Simmons.

Anything but a "dead rubber", Australia must stop the All Blacks juggernaut to avoid becoming the first Wallabies outfit in 117 years of international rugby to be whitewashed 3-0 by two nations in the same season.

Cheika has shuffled his second row all year, mixing and matching Coleman and Arnold with Simmons, Douglas, Sam Carter and Will Skelton.

Cheika worked Douglas and Simmons in tandem at Thursday's training session in Sydney, alternating the experienced duo with first-year internationals Coleman and Arnold.

Coleman and Arnold started in Australia's last-up win over Argentina at Twickenham but staring down the world champions for the first time together - on their home turf and at a venue where they are unbeaten against all comers since 1994 - is a whole new proposition.

Cheika is also believed to be weighing up whether to rush star loose forward David Pocock straight back into his starting line-up after a month out following hand surgery.

Lopeti Timani started at No.8 against the Pumas, but Cheika is likely to revert to a back row of Pocock, Michael Hooper and either Scott Fardy or fellow lineout option Dean Mumm as blindside flanker.

Australia's international coach of the year is also understood to be toying with the idea of shifting Bernard Foley back to five-eighth and bringing Reece Hodge from the wing into his preferred inside centre position.

That would leave Quade Cooper starting from the bench and either Henry Speight or fellow Fiji-born flyer Sefa Naivalu to start on the wing.

Israel Folau is again likely to start at fullback despite more calls for the two-time John Eales Medallist to be shifted to outside centre.

Nick Phipps is expected to replace Will Genia after the in-form halfback's return to his French club commitments, though Cheika could decide to give Nick Frisby a start.

Despite the Bledisloe Cup already being lost for another year, the Wallabies are desperate to break their 30-year Eden Park hoodoo.