Australia is preparing to face South Africa on Saturday in Perth during the Tri-Nations. After three losses in a row – the latest against New Zealand last weekend – the Wallabies are at the bottom of the standings; the team and its coach, Robbie Dean, are training hard and making a series of roster changes in order to prime themselves for the match.

The match will be a decisive one for the Wallabies; the team must win its remaining games for a chance to win the title.

A series of injuries have plagued the team and left key players out of the game. In a new move to resolve the problem, Coach Dean has called in six members of the Western Force side in order to solidify his team. Thus, with Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock out for the rest of the tournament, and Nathan Sharpe and inside center Berrick Barnes both sidelined after injuries in Saturday’s match against New Zealand, Dean has called for reinforcements.

Ryan Cross will be replacing Barnes, although he will start at outside center while Adam Ashley-Cooper will play inside. Mark Chisholm, who has recovered from a dislocated wrist, will replace Sharpe at lock.

Not all the injured players, however, need be replaced. It was announced this week that James O’Connor and Rocky Elsom had passed their fitness tests and would rejoin the Australian team. O’Connor was named to start at fullback after overcoming a leg injury, while Elsom was cleared to start at blindside flanker after recovering from an ankle problem.

The coach also made two additional changes unrelated to injury: Peter Hynes is on the wing while Ben Alexander will replace Al Baxter as tighthead.

Despite the changes, the Wallabies remain confident in their players and in their team’s depth; they still hope for a positive outcome this Saturday. South Africa has previously proven that it is stronger than the Australian team; in a match earlier this month in Cape Town, South Africa defeated the Wallabies 29-17 due to a very effective kicking game. As a result, Australia has focused a large part of its training and preparation on kicking.

"We've been working pretty hard over the last 18 months on our attacking kicking and that includes contestable, putting up high balls, the cross-field kicks to wingers and the little grubbers," Lachie Turner said. "We've been working hard on finding space all over the field and giving ourselves options to find it, and our kickers have been doing it well.”

He also pointed out that each team has a weakness; the Wallabies have had enough time to watch South Africa and learn its Achilles’ heel. Although he didn’t deign to mention what South Africa’s weakness was, he did say that the Wallabies were prepared for Saturday.

In the last few days, all of the team’s cleared players have proven their fitness. Both the coach and the team itself believe that they are ready to face South Africa this weekend. We hope the best for both teams.

About the Author

Audrey Nolan is a top senior copy writer on Rugby Games and sports action for the sportsbetting www.instantactionsports.com/
Feel free to reprint this article in its entirety on your site, make sure to leave all links in place and do not modify any of the content.