Wallabues head coach Michael Cheika has named his team to play the All Blacks in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup Final. The matchday squad features just one change, with prop Scott Sio returning to the starting XV after overcoming an injury that ruled him out of the semi final.
Sio will resume his role up front, while James Slipper reverts to the bench. It’s the only change to the starting XV that beat Argentina 29-15 in the semi final last Sunday.
Australia will have one survivor from their last World Cup Final in 2003, with Matt Giteau lining up at inside centre. Giteau replaced current Wallabies Assistant Coach Stephen Larkham briefly in that Final 12 years ago.
Saturday’s Rugby World Cup Final will be the first played between Australia and New Zealand, with the winner to become the first nation to win the tournament three times.
The Wallabies took home the William Webb Ellis trophy defeating England in 1991 and France in 1999 and made a third Final against England in 2003.
Michael Cheika said nothing would change for his team heading into the decider.
“This week we’ve had a strong focus on improving certain areas in our game where we feel we havent been at our best in the previous matches. We still have lots of scope to improve and we’ll work on that before this next match against New Zealand.
“Our lads are learning to cherish each opportunity they have in the gold jersey and this week we have that opportunity again and we’ll be doing our best to make Australia proud of it’s rugby team,” he said.
Kickoff at Twickenham in at 4pm local time, Saturday October 31
Wallabies Team:
1. Scott Sio (15 Tests) 2. Stephen Moore (c) (101 Tests) 3. Sekope Kepu (62 Tests) 4. Kane Douglas (23 Tests) 5. Rob Simmons (59 Tests) 6. Scott Fardy (29 Tests) 7. Michael Hooper (vc) (50 Tests) 8. David Pocock (54 Tests) 9. Will Genia (65 Tests) 10. Bernard Foley (26 Tests) 11. Drew Mitchell (69 Tests) 12. Matt Giteau (101 Tests) 13. Tevita Kuridrani (30 Tests) 14. Adam Ashley-Cooper (vc) (113 Tests) 15. Israel Folau (37 Tests)
Reserves 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau (60 Tests) 17. James Slipper (73 Tests) 18. Greg Holmes (23 Tests) 19. Dean Mumm (43 Tests) 20. Ben McCalman (46 Tests) 21. Nick Phipps (37 Tests) 22. Matt Toomua (30 Tests) 23. Kurtley Beale (59 Tests)
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