Fraser McReight will make a rare Test start at No.7 after Wallabies co-captain Michael Hooper was ruled out of Saturday’s clash with Argentina with a calf injury.
McReight’s opportunity is one of five changes to Eddie Jones’ starting XV on the back of Sunday’s ugly 43-12 loss to South Africa.
Richie Arnold will make his first Test start – forming a giant lock pairing with Will Skelton – while winger Suliasi Vunivalu has been dropped for Mark Nawaqanitawase.
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Samu Kerevi bolsters the midfield in place of Reece Hodge while flanker Jed Holloway comes in for Tom Hooper.
Quade Cooper has retained the No.10 jersey ahead of Carter Gordon, who is one of only two backs on a bench featuring the return from injury of prop Angus Bell.
“We’ve got a sort of rough plan of what we want to do,” Jones said.
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“Our aim is to get to the World Cup in the best position and we’ve got five games to do it. We’re obviously a new team, new coaching staff, so we’re just finding out where we’re at. So we didn’t have a number in place, but we were always going t. make some changes.”
Jones said Hooper should be running again by Friday.
“It’s only a small injury but it’s too valuable a player to risk for this Test… we’ve got a couple of other options we’re looking at in terms of that seven position. But Fraser’s trained really well, impressed in the three weeks I’ve seen him, and I think he can do a fantastic job for us.”
NEW PODCAST: Special guest Nick Phipps helps the crew unpack an ugly Wallabies loss in Pretoria and work out how to put things right in Sydney against the Pumas
WALLABIES (15-1): Tom Wright, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Len Ikitau, Samu Kerevi, Marika Koroibete, Quade Cooper, Nic White, Rob Valetini, Fraser McReight, Jed Holloway, Will Skelton, Richie Arnold, Allan Alaalatoa, Dave Porecki, James Slipper (c)
Reserves: Jordan Uelese, Angus Bell, Pone Fa’amausili, Matt Philip, Rob Leota, Josh Kemeny, Tate McDermott, Carter Gordon
PUMAS (15-1): Emiliano Boffelli, Rodrigo Isgro, Lucio Cinti, Jeronimo de la Fuente, Mateo Carreras, Santiago Carreras, Gonzalo Bertranou, Juan Martin Gonzalez, Santiago Grondona, Pablo Matera, Tomas Lavanini, Matias Alemanno, Francisco Gomez Kodela, Julian Montoya (c), Thomas Gallo
Reserves: Agustin Creevy, Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro, Eduardo Bello, Lucas Paulos, Rodrigo Bruni, Lautaro Bazan Velez, Nicolas Sanchez, Matias Moroni
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