Australia take on minnows Romania

Australia made just one change from the side which kicked off their World Cup campaign with a victory over Argentina, Daniel Vickerman coming in at lock for the injured David Giffin for today’s encounter with Romania at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.

Giffin suffered a horror fall at Telstra Stadium and was unconscious for several minutes before being carted from the field on a stretcher. Hospital tests have shown no lasting damage and Giffin has since rejoined the Wallabies camp, although a shoulder problems ruled him out of contention today.

With few expecting the Eastern Europeans to test the Wallabies over the full 80 minutes, it will be interesting to see how ruthless Eddie Jones’ team can be.

Romania will look to contain the world champions through their impressive pack, although their front row has been weakened by an ankle injury to loosehead prop Petru Balan.

His replacement, 23-year-old Petrisor Toderasc, will pack down against Australia’s most inexperienced forward, Al Baxter.

The atmosphere in Brisbane has been electric all day, the city buzzing with music fans also out and about for the Livid festival, while the rugby fans have provided a dash of gold with thousands sporting the Wallaby jersey, and one Romanian fan has decked himself out as a blue-yellow-and-red painted vampire.

Brisbane has been hot during the day, but gathering cloud cover and a brisk wind should see temperatures in the stadium in the low 20s.