Baxter blow for Wallabies

Wallaby coach John Connolly’s plans to lay the foundation of victory against Wales based on improved forward power began to unravel less than half a day after his original team announcement.

Tight-head prop Al Baxter withdrew from the starting line-up eight hours after being named to take on resurgent Wales and Llanelli Scarlets loose-head Iestyn Thomas.

A Wallaby statement read: “Al Baxter has been ruled out of Saturday night’s opening clash with Wales through illness.

“Baxter has been battling bronchitis during the week and was today withdrawn from the weekend clash.”

Brumbies prop Guy Shepherdson comes into the starting line-up and his place on the replacements bench goes to Waratah Benn Robinson.

Connolly can at least look on Baxter’s withdrawal in one positive light. It brings forward his plans to rotate squad members during the two Tests against Wales and the one that follows against Fiji in Perth on June 9.

“There was a lot of discussion about building the depth, a lot of discussion about making sure that we’re peaking for the World Cup and what does that mean for the players, how many Tests they actually do play through to the World Cup,” Connolly said.

“Winning Test matches is the key whether the World Cup’s around the corner or not, but also paying respect to the jersey so that it doesn’t become a revolving door.”

However, Connolly and his coaching team are being forced to deal with some unrest among their players as the serious business of preparing for the tournament in France during November gets under way against Wales at Sydney’s Telstra Stadium on Saturday.

The issue is over the Australian Rugby Union seemingly being prepared to offer around £150,000 per season to tempt Craig Wing away from rugby league side Sydney Roosters while a union-bred talent such as Adam Ashley-Cooper could leave for overseas because he is unlikely to earn anywhere near that sort of sum as a Brumbie and Wallaby.

Ashley-Cooper fills the inside-centre berth vacated by Matt Giteau’s switch to scrum-half, which in turn leaves 136-times capped 1999 World Cup winner George Gregan to wait for his opportunity from the bench.

The decision compounds Gregan’s misery after he was deposed as captain by Connolly’s decision to ask flanker Phil Waugh and centre Stirling Mortlock to be co-captains, a move that has been met with fierce criticism from some Australian pundits.

But there is also flak flying within the Wallaby squad over the proposed move for Wing and Ashley-Cooper, 23, admits he is seriously considering a move to Europe after the World Cup.

He said: “There’s not much money in Australian rugby at the moment and overseas is certainly very appealing.

“At a young age you can go over there, earn a good amount of cash for one or two years, then still have the capability of coming back to Australia to play Super 14 and contend for the next World Cup with your pockets full.

“You do have to think about where you’re going to be after your career because this doesn’t last forever. You’ve got a shelf life of 10 years if you’re lucky.

“On the other side of that, I’m really enjoying my rugby at the Brumbies and I think I have progressed a lot since I started there as a professional player.

“Obviously I would also love to get more Tests under my belt for my country.”