Wallabies coach Michael Cheika was never going to select his best team for Saturday's Test against the US Eagles, even though Israel Folau recently said he might do so to maintain momentum for the World Cup.
Off the back of a Rugby Championship and the workload of their training after the cup squad was named – in Sydney and this week in the US – a number of players were going to need some rest some time; especially with a potentially dangerous World Cup opener against Fiji on September 23 looming. Cheika said some players would be spelled before leaving Australia last Saturday for the US where the Wallabies have trained at Notre Dame University in hot and humid Indiana before Saturday's Test at Soldier Field in Chicago.
Then came his biggest clue of all: the call-up of three non-World Cup squad members to the US in hooker James Hanson, lock Sam Carter and winger Taqele Naiyaravoro for "specific" purposes: ultimately, as seen when Cheika named his team on Thursday, that being to be named on the bench and ready to play.
Of the trio, Naiyaravoro is one of two uncapped players picked for Saturday, the other being Toby Smith, a loosehead prop who can also play tighthead and was named on the bench. The biggest consequence of this selection could be its impact on Naiyaravoro.
If he plays he will no longer be eligible to play for his country of birth, Fiji; which, in turn, might impact his future plans with Glasgow Warriors, who he has signed to play for after the World Cup. At least after naming a team that also includes four players starting for the first time this season – Kurtley Beale at fullback, Sean McMahon at openside flanker, Kane Douglas in the second row and Tatafu Polota-Nau at hooker – Cheika can now go to the World Cup knowing they should be better for the time.
And by resting players such as squad captain Stephen Moore, Michael Hooper, David Pocock, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Drew Mitchell and Folau, he can expect them to hit the ground running on the heavy English paddocks.
Ultimately, Cheika also knows he has picked a line-up that should account for the Eagles, with seven of those selected having played for the Wallabies side that last faced the US team – on September 23, in 2011 in their World Cup pool game at Wellington that Australia won 67-5 after leading 22-5 at half-time. They were loosehead prop James Slipper, who will captain the Wallabies on Saturday, Beale, Rob Horne, Polota-Nau in the backs, and forwards Rob Simmons, Ben McCalman and Wycliff Palu.
"They came out in the first 20 minutes and played really well," recalled Slipper of the US in that 2011 Test. "It really showed us what they could do. We got over the top of them towards the end. But this time … we are on their home turf. They are going to be pretty pumped for this game. I am expecting a very, very physical and quick open to the game."
