Thursday Round-Up

Cruden starts for NZ: New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen has named his side to take on their hosts England at Twickenham this weekend, with both Aaron Cruden and Sonny Bill Williams retaining their spots in the starting XV since last weekend’s demolition job of the USA. Upfront, Wyatt Crockett starts alongside Dane Coles and Owen Franks, while Sam Whitelock is reunited with Brodie Retallick in the engine room. Kieran Read combines with skipper Richie McCaw and the bashful Jerome Kaino to form a formidable back row, while Cruden lines up alongside Aaron Smith in an exciting halfback pairing. Across the rest of the back line there lies class and danger throughout, with Conrad Smith partnering Williams in midfield, and Julian Savea, Ben Smith and Israel Dagg making up an elusive back three. Amongst the replacements are Patrick Tuipulotu who will provide second row cover, the experienced trio of Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks and Charlie Faumuina who will cover jersey 1-3 and Beauden Barrett who will cover a range of back line positions alongside Ryan Crotty. The two sides will be playing for the Hillary Shield at Twickenham on Saturday, the trophy named after the late Sir Edmund Hillary.

McMahon gets nod: New Wallabies boss Michael Cheika has handed a test debut to exciting back row prospect Sean McMahon, as his side look to continue their positive run of results against Wales at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday. Cheika has opted to instil some element of stability in the side, as he makes just two enforced changes to the XV who took to the field against the All Blacks three weeks ago. Those two changes both come in the make-up of the back row, with Sean McMahon and Ben McCalman named in place of injured duo Scott Fardy and Scott Higginbotham respectively. Elsewhere, Bernard Foley will be asked to pull the strings from the ten slot alongside the in-form Nick Phipps, while Adam Ashley Cooper once again finds himself on the wing, with Cheika’s preferred midfield combination of Leali’ifano and Kuridrani given another outing in tandem. The clash with Wales represents Australia’s second game on tour, with Cheika’s side due to take on Ireland, France and England in the coming weeks.

Ryan Sheady