WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN: Of all the games in all the world, Alastair Baxter will make his Wallabies' starting debut in the World Cup opener against Argentina in front of a capacity 83,500 crowd at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney on Friday.
Yet it still seems odd that, largely of Eddie Jones's volition, as opposed to injuries, the 26-year-old Waratahs tighthead is starting is first Test in such a crunch game and against opponents for whom scrummaging is such a macho badge of honour.
The Pumas tuck into a scrum in much the way they do when blood-red steaks are served up in front of them, and they'll be licking their lips at the thought of packing down with a relatively untried Wallabies' front row.
Baxter's representative career with the New South Wales Waratahs only took flight this year after he decided to curtail his work as an architect to focus on his rugby. Known more for his athleticism and high workrate around the pitch, Baxter's only Test experience was as a replacement against the All Blacks in Australia's most recent outing against them in the Bledisloe Cup decider in August, which was their fourth defeat in five games.
"It's a great honour and very exciting to be in this position, I just can't wait to play," said Baxter. "Yes, it's been a rapid rise this year, but the players and coaching staff have made my transition to Test rugby extremely smooth."
Not surprisingly, Nathan Sharpe wins back a starting berth in the second row and David Lyons fills the number eight jersey left vacant by Toutai Kefu, though again Sharpe's omission from the Wallabies' last four starting line-ups caused consternation amongst some Australian observers.
"It's a pretty young and exciting pack," commented Jones. "Playing Argentina is one of the great challenges for a forward and we've been working very hard on our scrum."
South Africa apart, the Wallabies are arguably the least settled of the leading contenders in terms of consistency of selection, and Jones has, most probably, been denied the opportunity to select a notional first-choice backline due to the unavailability of Stirling Mortlock, whatever about the mercurial and sometimes out-of-favour Chris Latham.
Sidelined for the last seven months after overcoming a debilitating shoulder injury for the second time in his career, Mortlock was ruled out after falling ill with gastroenteritis.
Wallaby medical staff have also ruled Latham out of calculations for the Argentine clash.
"We've been doing a lot of testing on Chris since his hospitalisation with pneumonia after the Tri-Nations series and the data is telling us that he's not ready to play just yet," said Dr Martin Raftery. Latham is expected to be back in harness next week.
Matt Burke, a veteran of three World Cup campaigns, has thus been selected at outside centre with fellow Waratah Mat Rogers to start at full back.
Matt Cockbain, another veteran of the 1999 triumph, returns to the Australian bench for the first time since their autumn tour last year.
AUSTRALIA (v Argentina in Sydney on Friday): M Rogers; W Sailor, M Burke, E Flatley, J Roff; S Larkham, G Gregan; B Young, B Cannon, A Baxter, D Giffin, N Sharpe, G Smith, D Lyons, P Waugh.Replacements: J Paul, B Darwin, D Vickerman, M Cockbain, C Whitaker, M Giteau, L Tuqiri.
