Sport

Ashley-Cooper wins 50th cap as Deans rings changes

ITALY v AUSTRALIA: AUSTRALIA CENTRE Adam Ashley-Cooper will win his 50th cap against Italy in Florence (3

Sat Nov 20 2010 - 00:00

ITALY v AUSTRALIA:AUSTRALIA CENTRE Adam Ashley-Cooper will win his 50th cap against Italy in Florence (3.0) as part of a starting XV showing five changes from the line-up comprehensively defeated by England at Twickenham last weekend.

Ashley-Cooper, who will become the 35th man to make 50 Test appearances for the Wallabies, has retained his place but wing Lachie Turner, centre Berrick Barnes and scrumhalf Luke Burgess come into the team as James O’Connor, Matt Giteau and Will Genia drop out of the side.

O’Connor’s absence is down to his return to Australia for compassionate reasons. He will rejoin the squad ahead of their Test against France next weekend.

In the pack, Queensland Reds prop James Slipper and provincial team-mate lock Rob Simmons make their first starts for their country.

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Coach Robbie Deans is confident the changes he has made will see his side get back on track. “They’ve all earned their right to be a part of this side,” he said.

“Off the back of his efforts off the bench, James (Slipper) has earned his opportunity to start and Rob gets his chance to start having got some more rugby under his belt (against Leicester and Munster) and he’ll benefit from the experience he received off the bench through the Tri Nations.”

Italy scrumhalf Edoardo Gori is handed a surprise debut by coach Nick Mallett who makes six changes from the side beaten by Argentina last weekend. Gori, impressive for Treviso in the Magners League, gets the nod ahead of Pablo Canovosio.

ITALY: L McLean; T Benvenuti, G Canale, A Sgarbi, Mi Bergamasco; L Orquera, E Gori; A Lo Cicero, F Ongaro, M Castrogiovanni, D Del Fava, Q Geldenhuys, P Derbyshire, A Zanni,S Parisse (capt). Replacements: C Festuccia, L Cittadini, S Dellape, R Barbieri, P Canavosio, R Bocchino, A Masi.

AUSTRALIA: K Beale; L Turner, A Ashley-Cooper, B Barnes, D Mitchell; Q Cooper, L Burgess; J Slipper, S Moore, B Alexander, R Simmons, N Sharpe, R Elsom, D Pocock, B McCalman. Replacements: Polota-Nau, B Robinson, M Chisholm, M Hodgson, W Genia, M Giteau, P McCabe.

Referee: Christophe Berdos(France).