Peter O’Mahony has come a long way from his first brush with the Wallabies back in 2010.

Australia bounced back from their England defeat to record a 50-20 victory over Italy in their second autumn international at the Stadio Olimpico.

Scrum-half Will Genia will return to the starting line-up for Australia’s final Rugby Championship fixture against Argentina in Rosario tomorrow.

Australia 14 Argentina 13

New Australia coach Ewen McKenzie has no concerns over playmaker Quade Cooper’s ability to perform under pressure ahead of his likely Test return against the All Blacks next month.

Australia 16 British and Irish Lions 15

On a difficult night in Brisbane for the Wallabies, Ben Mowen was one of the shining lights for Robbie Deans’ wounded troops during their ill-fated opening match against the Lions.

Where the key battles will be fought.

Robbie Deans has been consistently labelled a conservative coach throughout his tenure as Wallabies supremo, but the former Canterbury Crusaders boss well and truly threw the cat amongst the pigeons with his selection for Saturday’s opening clash with the Lions in Brisbane.

Australia have picked James O'Connor at fly-half for Saturday's opening Test against the British and Irish Lions at Suncorp Stadium with Kurtley Beale included on the bench.

Michael Hooper is gearing up for the biggest day of his fledgling career on Saturday.

Australia have named Tri-Nations winning captain James Horwill as their skipper for the British and Irish Lions Tour.

Code-hopper Israel Folau is one of three new caps in Australia’s preliminary 25-man squad to face the British and Irish Lions, with in-form Reds playmaker Quade Cooper the most notable omission.

Controversial fly-half Quade Cooper returned to the Australia squad with coach Robbie Deans naming a large 49-man training group ahead of the Test series against the British and Irish Lions in June and July.

Wingers Drew Mitchell and Lachie Turner have been included in Australia’s training squad as they prepare for the Rugby Championship.

Former France international Sebastien Chabal has confirmed he will move to Australia to play Super Rugby in the coming weeks.