Waratahs coach Michael Cheika has made two changes to his starting XV to face the Rebels at Allianz Stadium on Friday.
Wallabies prop Benn Robinson returns to the front row in place of Jeremy Tilse, whilst Mitchell Chapman takes over from Sitaleki Timani in the second row.
Israel Folau was again named at full-back despite an indifferent performance in his Super Rugby debut against the Reds.
Berrick Barnes is still sidelined with a knee injury as the Waratahs aim to halt a losing streak of nine Super Rugby games dating back to April last year.
Their last win was a 30-21 victory over the Rebels in Sydney.
Waratahs: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Drew Mitchell, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Tom Carter, 11 Tom Kingston, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 Dave Dennis (c), 6 Michael Hooper, 5 Kane Douglas, 4 Mitchell Chapman, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 John Ulugia, 17 Jeremy Tilse, 18 Paddy Ryan, 19 Sitaleki Timani, 20 Lopeti Timani, 21 Matt Lucas, 22 Ben Volavola.
Date: Friday, March 1
Kick-off: 19:20 (08:20 GMT)
Venue: Allianz Stadium
Referee: Rohan Hoffmann (Australia)
Assistant referees: James Leckie (Australia), Ed Martin (Australia)
Television match official: Matt Goddard (Australia)
Comments
Wallaroo says...
Who the hell doesn't start the best international front rower in the country, Benn Robinson. But what's even more disturbing is that while Cheika has this stroke of genius, realising he has the best front rower available he then replaces a perfectly good second rower with Chapman. No disrespect to Chapman but he has not played in Aus for a couple of years, he needs to come off the bench a few times and prove himself before he gets a start ahead of someone trusted and reliable.
Posted 06:28 28th February 2013
tha_mai says...
Nine in a row, despite being loaded with Qantas Wallabies; unsure of even Rebels or Force have matched that many consecutive losses.
Stole this from a news site, bit early to judge him on one performance?:
"New Waratahs supremo Michael Cheika is supposedly the sort of coach some players don't like because he's brutal, honest and challenging. After the Waratahs first outing, it might be more accurate to believe that players often don't like him because he's just not a very good coach."
Posted 05:47 28th February 2013
georgesmith says...
Take the lazy duo S. Kepu and D. Dennis out of the team.
Posted 08:56 27th February 2013