Michael Cheika wants Samu Kerevi to show what he can do when Australia, boosted by the inclusion of Bernard Foley and Will Genia, take on Wales this weekend.
MORE: Wales trio to make home debuts against Wallabies |
After scoring two tries during the 63-30 victory over Japan in Yokohama on Saturday, Kerevi has been retained in the starting XV at centre ahead of Karmichael Hunt.
"I think Samu's a very, very good player and I know he hasn't had it all his way this year so I'm eager to see him fight back and hold a spot in the team," head coach Cheika said.
"A really good thing for us is we've got options around how we can set up because Karmichael can go to full-back or centre, Samu can go 12 or 13, [Reece] Hodge can play pretty much anywhere now, and [Kurtley] Beale can play 12, full-back or fly-half if we need."
Fly-half Foley and scrum-half Genia have recovered from illness and a calf injury respectively to start at the Principality Stadium on Saturday, where Beale will play at full-back in the absence of Israel Folau, who is taking a break from the game for the remainder of the year.
#BREAKING | Your #Wallabies team to face @WelshRugbyUnion this Sun 12 Nov at 4:15am AEDT. #WALvAUS READ: https://t.co/if383NsBcK pic.twitter.com/s82N7IOUjj
— Qantas Wallabies (@qantaswallabies) November 9, 2017
Australia: Kurtley Beale, Marika Koroibete, Tevita Kuridrani, Samu Kerevi, Reece Hodge, Bernard Foley, Will Genia; Scott Sio, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Sekope Kepu, Rob Simmons, A Coleman, Ned Hanigan, Michael Hooper (c), Sean McMahon.
Replacements: Stephen Moore, Tom Robertson, Allan Alaalatoa, Matt Philip, Ben McCalman, Nick Phipps, Karmichael Hunt, Henry Speight.
Wales: Leigh Halfpenny, Liam Williams, Jonathan Davies, Owen Williams, Steff Evans, Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans, Ken Owens, Tomas Francis, Jake Ball, Alun Wyn Jones (captain), Aaron Shingler, Josh Navidi, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Kristian Dacey, Nicky Smith, Leon Brown, Cory Hill, Sam Cross, Aled Davies, Owen Watkin, Hallam Amos.