Rugby World Cup: Wallabies coach Michael Cheika names team that beat Fiji to take on England

WALLABIES coach Michael Cheika has turned back to his own crack “A-Team” unit to get the job done against England on Sunday and knock the hosts out of the Rugby World Cup.

UPDATE: WALLABIES coach Michael Cheika has turned back to his own crack “A-Team” unit to get the job done against England on Sunday and ruin the Rugby World Cup dream of the hosts.

Cheika named the same starting side that defeated Fiji in the Wallabies’ opening match to run on against England in the biggest showdown at Twickenham between the two rivals since the 1991 World Cup final.

The coach resisted the urge to tinker and select players from the Australian second-string side who impressed in thumping Uruguay.

Cheika did not immediately finalise his bench and was to decide on who would replace the injured Will Skelton after the team trained overnight.

PODCAST: England v Wallabies

Cheika has not selected the same starting side once in his 11-Test Wallabies career but this is just about the same thing​, with faith shown in every starter from the Fiji win.​

“There were a fair few tough selection decisions across the board about what would be the best mix to start the match but we felt the team who played in the first game did a good job​,” Cheika said.​

After chopping and changing all winter, Cheika has stuck solid with players in contentious positions, such as Will Genia and Bernard Foley in the halves.

Quade Cooper felt he’d mounted a case for a call-up but Foley has kept the no.10 shirt, and will have the all-important goal-kicking duties as well.

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“Quade had a very good game,” assistant coach Stephen Larkham said.

“He was disappointed again with being yellow carded and he made a couple of mistakes but generally he controlled the play very well and he showed some flashes of brilliance out there.

“We were happy with both performances (from Foley and Cooper), against Fiji and Uruguay. There really wasn’t a lot between them. We decided to stick with the combination from Fiji, and give that another run.”

Nick Phipps remains on the bench behind Will Genia, and Rob Horne saw off the challenge of Drew Mitchell to keep his left wing spot.

David Pocock and Michael Hooper will again be strike weapons in the backrow.

After a winter where teams have changed not only in games but on the training paddock as well, the continuity of running the same team for a few weeks had led to improvements, said Larkham.

​”​It (continuity) certainly helps,” Larkham said.

​”​Prior to ​(England) ​we were chopping and changing each session, and obviously each game as well. We have certainly seen the benefits at training, the communication is a lot stronger, particularly in the inside backs over the last two weeks.”

Cheika​ dismissed comments from English no.8 Ben Morgan said their scrum would seek to re-awaken the “demons” and “doubts” implanted during last year’s humbling at Twickenham​.

“I know England think we are weak in the forwards. It is pretty obvious, they are saying it out loud,” he said.

​”​They’ve done it to us, they’ve stuck it to us the last couple of times so there’s nothing we can say in our room that’s going to make any difference. The only place things are going to be different is on the field on Saturday night and that’s where we’ve got to show our colours. Talk’s cheap, you know.​”​

​WALLABIES v ENGLAND​

1. Scott Sio

2. Stephen Moore (captain)

3. Sekope Kepu

4. Rob Simmons

5. Kane Douglas

6. Scott Fardy

7. Michael Hooper

8. David Pocock

9. Will Genia

10. Bernard Foley

11. Rob Horne

12. Matt Giteau

13. Tevita Kuridrani

14. Adam Ashley-Cooper

15. Israel Folau

Bench to be confirmed

Originally published as Rugby World Cup: Wallabies coach Michael Cheika names team that beat Fiji to take on England