October 1, 2015
Rugby World Cup Lineups: England v Australia
Doug Coil
October 3, 2015
England v Australia, Pool A, Twickenham, London, Kick off 20:00 – 3pm ET
Referee: Romain Poite; Assistant Referee: George Clancy, Marius Mitrea; TV Match Official: Shaun Veldsman
England has made three changes to the starting XV for the match from their narrow loss to Wales. Joseph returns from an injury at Center, Launchbury and Morgan are at lock and number eight. Nick Easter was named on the bench after joining the team as an injury replacement earlier in the week.
Australia has 14 changes to the starting XV from the team’s victory against Uruguay. It is an experienced side with 740 test caps. Only David Pocock returns as a starter. Wallabies captain Stephen Moore returns for his 98th Test appearance.
Michael Chieka shared (RWC 2015) “I believe that this selection, the same starting team that ran out against Fiji, has been really clear on where we must improve and the level we must be at to compete with England, and we know that it’s going to be a very tough challenge.
“The group is really committed to making all Australians truly proud of how we represent them at this Rugby World Cup and Saturday night will be another opportunity for us to do that.”
England Ranked 6th: HC Stuart Lancaster Starters: 1. Joe Marler 2. Tom Youngs 3. Dan Cole 4. Joe Launchbury 5. Geoff Parling 6. Tom Wood 7. Chris Robshaw (c) 8. Ben Morgan 9. Ben Youngs 10. Owen Farrell 11. Jonny May 12. Brad Barritt 13. Jonathan Joseph 14. Anthony Watson 15. Mike Brown Replacements: 16. Rob Webber 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Nick Easter 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. George Ford 23. Sam Burgess
Australia Ranked 3rd: HC Michael Cheika Starters: 1. Scott Sio 2. Stephen Moore (c) 3. Sekope Kepu 4. Kane Douglas 5. Rob Simmons 6. Scott Fardy 7. Michael Hooper (vc) 8. David Pocock 9. Will Genia 10. Bernard Foley 11. Rob Horne 12. Matt Giteau 13. Tevita Kuridrani 14. Adam Ashley-Cooper (vc) 15. Israel Folau Replacements: 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. James Slipper 18. Greg Holmes 19. Dean Mumm 20. Ben McCalman 21. Nick Phipps 22. Matt Toomua 23. Kurtley Beale