Bledisloe Cup: Dane Haylett-Petty to be named at fullback for Wallabies

Coach Dave Rennie has flagged at least one change to the Wallabies’ line-up for Saturday’s clash against the All Blacks.

Dane Haylett-Petty of the Wallabies dives to score a try last year

Melbourne Rebels captain Dane Haylett-Petty, who has played the All Blacks seven times in his 37-Test career for zero wins, has been chosen at fullback for the Bledisloe III at ANZ Stadium on Saturday, replacing the luckless Tom Banks.

In the opening two Bledisloe Tests, played on the other side of the Tasman, Banks performed solidly without ever threatening to cut loose with the Chris Latham-style entrances from fullback which he has made a regular feature of his games with the Brumbies. He has been near-faultless under the high ball but clearly, with Dave Rennie insisting that players have to “nail” their positions, he has not been offering enough in attack.

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Australia must win on Saturday to send the series into a decider at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday week and Haylett-Petty’s record of having scored 12 Test tries indicates he knows his way to the tryline. His greatest attribute come selection time may have been his experience. With inside centre Matt Toomua likely to be sidelined for the remainder of the Tri-Nations series, Rennie intended putting as much experience around playmaker James O’Connor as possible and 31-year-old Haylett-Petty clearly fits the bill.

There is no question the All Blacks are Haylett-Petty’s nemesis team, however. Had it not been for them, he would have a neat Test record of 15 wins and 15 losses. But on each of the seven occasion he has played them, from the Sydney Test in 2016 through to the clash in Yokohama in 2018, Australia has come out behind.

He is, however, the only surviving Australian starting back from the 2017 side which looked like breaking through for Australia’s first win on NZ soil in Dunedin since 2001, only to lose at the death to a try by Beauden Barrett after NZ captain Kieran Read out jumped Wallabies lock Izack Rodda to win the kick-off back for the All Blacks.

The change at fullback was the only selection Rennie was prepared to go public with but indications are that there will be further alterations to the side beaten 27-7 at Eden Park a fortnight ago when he names his full team later on Thursday.

Most of the speculation has focused on the 12 jersey where Rennie has two options to replace Toomua. Either he makes it a straight swap and brings in specialist inside centre Irae Simone or he moves O’Connor out one position and installs another young Brumbies player Noah Lolesio at five-eighth.

When O’Connor spoke to the media earlier this week he gave no hint that he would be swapping his 10 jersey for a 12. Having put Lolesio on the bench for Bledisloe I and then not using him, it would now be astounding if Rennie handed the 20-year-old a Test debut against the All Blacks in the playmaking position in the pivotal Test of the series. More likely he will ease him into the contest as a finisher and hand him a starting debut against the Argentinians later in the Tri-Nations campaign.

The forward pack is expected to remain the same, save for a possible change at tighthead where Allan Alaalatoa may be given a start to allow Taniela Tupou to unleash his powerful running game against a tiring All Black defence in the second half.