Wallabies ready to experiment against Ireland

WORLD champions Australia have admitted they will not put out a full-strength side for their Test against Ireland at Lansdowne Road on Saturday week.

Instead, they will wait for their meeting with England at Twickenham a week later to put the full Wallaby might on show.

The decision of coach Eddie Jones could be interpreted as a put-down to the Irish, given that it goes against their traditional policy of picking their best team for every international.

Jones said yesterday his best starting XV would not be revealed until the Test against England at Twickenham on November 16. He explained that he wanted to experiment with players in the Tests against Argentina and Ireland before opting for his star XV to meet England in the most important fixture on the four-Test tour. The other Test is against Italy in Genoa on November 23.

The trials against Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday will include Mat Rogers at full-back, while David Lyons is likely to start as the blindside breakaway against Ireland on November 9 in Dublin. Lyons was scheduled to play against Argentina, but is not expected to overcome a thigh muscle injury in time.

Jones said: "This is a significantly different selection policy than what we've done in the past. It doesn't guarantee that everyone will get a game. But we believe we have good depth across the squad, and we're looking to give the opportunity for players to be involved in different roles."

Jones realises that apart from the benefit of playing two of their World Cup pool opponents (Argentina and Ireland) during the month-long tour, there is the advantage of encountering teams with different styles to that which Australia is accustomed.

"One of the great advantages we have is that we play on fast, hard tracks against sides that generally like to move the ball around. The sides we are coming up against are significantly different," Jones said.

"Argentina maul the ball a lot, as does England, with probably 60% of their line-outs involving seven-man line-outs so that they can maul the ball. Playing teams which keep the ball off the deck is good for us, because we need to play more games against such sides. We need to know how to combat all types of styles," he said.

"In recent years, we have really struggled against mauling teams, like England and Argentina."

For Saturday's Argentina Test, Stirling Mortlock is set to hold his wing spot, ahead of Wendell Sailor, with Matthew Burke remaining at outside-centre.

Meanwhile, Pieter van Zyl, the rugby union fan who attacked Irish referee Daver McHugh during a Tri-Nations match between South Africa and New Zealand, was fined 10,000 rand (950) yesterday.

Van Zyl's August 10 attack on the Cork man made headlines worldwide and forced authorities to step up security at other matches.

Van Zyl, who scaled a fence to tackle McHugh, was handed a life ban from attending future games by SARFU.

Durban Magistrate Russel Hand sentenced Van Zyl, 43, to a 10,000-rand fine or 30 days' jail. He paid the fine.

Van Zyl's lawyer, Bertie Grobbelaar, said his client would fight the SARFU ban.

Wallaby schedule: Saturday v Argentina, Buenos Aires; November 9 v Ireland, Lansdowne Road; November 16 v England, Twickenham; November 23 v Italy, Genoa.