{"id":4577,"date":"2020-12-03T00:20:14","date_gmt":"2020-12-03T01:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=4577"},"modified":"2020-12-03T02:25:39","modified_gmt":"2020-12-03T02:25:39","slug":"key-wallabies-changes-for-mission-impossible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=4577","title":{"rendered":"Key Wallabies changes for mission impossible"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>James O&#x27;Connor&#x27;s return from injury at five-eighth means yet another home for Wallabies Mr Fix It Reece Hodge.<\/p>\n<p>O&#x27;Connor will start at No 10 for Australia on Saturday in Sydney in the Tri Nations finale against an Argentina team in tumult.<\/p>\n<p>It is O&#x27;Connor&#x27;s first action since injuring his knee in the second Bledisloe Cup Test in Auckland.<\/p>\n<p>Hodge replaces Tom Banks at fullback which means, remarkably, he has now started a Test in every backline position except halfback.<\/p>\n<p>The other starting change is Allan Alaalatoa in for Taniela Tupou at tighthead prop.<\/p>\n<p>The Wallabies need to beat Argentina by a mission impossible 101 points to overtake the All Blacks and claim the Tri Nations.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"f22568a2-8a23-4cc4-88b6-36db266324ac\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/f22568a2-8a23-4cc4-88b6-36db266324ac\" alt=\"Reece Hodge\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s great to have James back in the team this weekend, he brings a lot of experience to a young group and has been working really hard to get his body right to be able to get back on the field,&quot; Wallabies coach Dave Rennie said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Reece has done a great job for us at No 10\u00a0over the past two games and we&#x27;re confident he&#x27;ll put in another good performance for us on Saturday night from fullback.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The side has worked really hard over the last 10 weeks or so and built a strong connection and I know as a full squad we are really keen to put together a performance that reflects that.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Rennie expanded on his five-eighth options <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rugby.com.au\/videos\/2020\/12\/01\/the-rugby-nation-show-dave-rennie\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"during an appearance on The Rugby Nation Show.\">during an appearance on <em>The Rugby Nation Show<\/em>.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&quot;One thing about James is his ability to play really square and play on top of defences is excellent,&quot; Rennie said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;When you look at Hodgey, I think he&#x27;s gone really well at 10, he&#x27;s been a little lateral though and that&#x27;s not easy when you&#x27;ve come from playing everywhere else but 10, but I think he&#x27;s made a pretty good fist of it.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"59d3dc67-b8d1-4825-9239-d761cb00df6a\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/59d3dc67-b8d1-4825-9239-d761cb00df6a\" alt=\"Wallabies pose for a team photo\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;But what we know with Rabs (O&#x27;Connor) is he&#x27;ll ask a lot of questions of the defences and they won&#x27;t be able to push off as the Argentinians have been able to do in most Tests.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;They&#x27;ve defended really well &#8211; you&#x27;ve got to play on top of them.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Argentina are <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/rugby\/argentina-captain-pablo-matera-sacked-racist-tweets-backlash-to-diego-maradona-snub\/fe8f5e45-d93d-40f9-bfe4-81db03f09622\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"in turmoil after the sacking of captain Pablo Matera and two other players.\">in turmoil after the sacking of captain Pablo Matera and two other players.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>They are yet to name a team or new skipper for the match.<\/p>\n<p><strong>WALLABIES (15-1):<\/strong> Reece Hodge, Tom Wright, Jordan Petaia, Hunter Paisami, Marika Koroibete, James O&#x27;Connor, Nic White, Harry Wilson, Michael Hooper (c), Ned Hanigan, Matt Philip, Rob Simmons, Allan Alaalatoa, Brandon Paenga-Amosa, Scott Sio<\/p>\n<p><strong>Reserves:<\/strong> Folau Fainga&#x27;a, Angus Bell, Taniela Tupou, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, Rob Valetini, Jake Gordon, Irae Simone, Tom Banks<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>James O&#x27;Connor&#x27;s return from injury at five-eighth means yet another home for Wallabies Mr Fix It Reece Hodge. O&#x27;Connor will start at No 10 for <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=4577\" title=\"Key Wallabies changes for mission impossible\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4577"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4579,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4577\/revisions\/4579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}