Saturday, June 11, 2005
Australia 74 - 7 Samoa
The Wallabies strolled to a win in their first game of the season. An under strength Samoa put up little resistance to an under strength Australia. The seventy-something to 7 score line reflecting Samoan indiscipline and Wallaby domination of possession.

Plenty for Eddie Jones to think about though, provided everyone is fit. Whilst Gregan will be picked (despite Whittaker playing well), who will play at five-eight? Larkham, Flatley or Gitteau? Personally, I would like to see Gitteau at 12 and Larkham at 10, but Gitteau controlled the game so well at 10, it would difficult to move him. The back three will probably be Latham, Rathbone and Tequiri as I’m not sure Sailor played well enough to change Eddie Jones’s mind. On the back row, Elsom played well enough for a spot against Italy, but Jones is still likely to go with Lyons, Waugh and Smith.

Either way, when reserves get the chance to play through injury, they very rarely pass over the opportunity to impress. It will probably mean that Flatley, Sailor, Rogers, Elsom, Roe, Whittaker and Tiranui, but that’s quite a bench line-up.

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