Eleven of Australia’s key players will go into the defence of the World Cup without having played a match in eight weeks.

John Mitchell returned to his strongest possible line-up for New Zealand’s twin assault on the Bledisloe Cup and the world number one ranking this weekend.

Chris Latham’s international season went full circle on Wednesday when he was re-instated to the Australia side for this weekend’s Tri-Nations Test against South Africa.

Coach Rod Macqueen today named uncapped props Nick Stiles and Ben Darwin in a 22-man Wallabies squad for Saturday’s first Test against the Lions.

The British and Irish Lions side has been hit by two more injuries ahead of Saturday’s game against the Queensland Reds