Wallabies ace braced for midfield onslaught

Wallabies match-winner Adam Ashley-Cooper is bracing himself for a big-time return of midfield rival Jamie Roberts when Australia face the British & Irish Lions in Saturday’s series decider in Sydney.

Roberts missed the first two Tests in Brisbane and Melbourne with a hamstring injury suffered on June 15 against the Waratahs, with fellow Welshman Jon Davies deputising at inside centre in a midfield partnership with Brian O’Driscoll. Now Roberts and O’Driscoll, the first-choice centre partnership for the Lions in 2009 and at the outset of this tour, look set to be reunited at ANZ Stadium in the third and final Test, with the Wallabies fielding Christian Leali’ifano and Ashley-Cooper, who scored the only try of the game in Saturday’s 16-15 win, at 12 and 13 respectively.

“It’s a big return, that’s a big boost to their backline,” Ashley-Cooper said yesterday. “Obviously they had a great midfield combination working for them in Davies and O’Driscoll. They’re a class act. Davies is a good ball carrier but I guess for the team, Jamie Roberts, he’s a great ball carrier and a big, big human. He gets over that advantage line very well and that would suit their gameplan very well. So it will be a big job for myself and Christian Leali’ifano to nullify that ascendancy that he threatens.”