A blow to the head of replacement prop James Slipper during Wednesday's 28-13 win over Fiji means loosehead Scott Sio is the only starter from that game to make the starting team for Sunday's Pool A match at Birmingham's Villa Park.
Lock Dean Mumm, who made a surprise late run for the squad after returning to Australia from England this year, will captain the side in the absence of regular skipper Stephen Moore, who starts his 98th test on the bench.
"We really want the entire squad to get a touch of the ball early at this Rugby World Cup and get everyone into match mode," Cheika said in a news release.
"We will need all 31 players ready for action throughout the tournament, and this is the first chance to do that for many of this team.
"We've had a solid preparation for this match considering that we've had to play two games in five days and we're very happy with where the players are at."
The overhaul offers a first glimpse of the latest exciting openside flanker talent to come off the Australian production line when Sean McMahon makes his fifth test start.
Wycliff Palu, who has lost his place as first choice number eight to Cheika's twin opensides experiment in the back row, plays his third test of the year at the rear of the scrum.
McMahon has little chance of making the side for the pool matches against England and Wales, with David Pocock and Michael Hooper ahead of him in the pecking order, but other players could yet force their way into the reckoning.
In the back line, Nick Phipps and Quade Cooper are the halfback pairing and have a chance to displace Will Genia and Bernard Foley as starting scrumhalf and flyhalf respectively.
Henry Speight, who usually plays on the wing, gets another chance to impress at outside centre and he, Drew Mitchell and Joe Tomane will be hoping to force Cheika to rethink his options on the wings.
1-Scott Sio, 2-Tatafu Polota-Nau, 3-Toby Smith, 4-Dean Mumm (captain), 5-Will Skelton, 6-Ben McCalman, 7-Sean McMahon, 8-Wycliff Palu; 9-Nick Phipps, 10-Quade Cooper, 11-Drew Mitchell, 12-Matt Toomua, 13-Henry Speight, 14-Joe Tomane, 15-Kurtley Beale.
Replacements: 16-Stephen Moore, 17-Sekope Kepu, 18-Greg Holmes, 19-Kane Douglas, 20-Rob Simmons, 21-Will Genia, 22-Bernard Foley, 23-Tevita Kuridrani
(Reporting by Nick Mulvennney; Editing by David Goodman)
Share
