Desperate times lead to desperate measures.
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans last night took drastic action over his team's dreadful form by making five positional changes, including selecting a new centre combination in Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane for Saturday night's Test against England at Twickenham.
Although the early indicators were that Deans would retain virtually the same line-up that lost to the All Blacks 32-19 in Tokyo last Saturday night, he instead showed that he was sick and tired of the team's poor performances by completely revamping his back line, while bringing George Smith back to the Wallabies pack.
The major casualties are Wallabies outside-centre Ryan Cross, fullback James O'Connor and openside flanker David Pocock.
Before the Tokyo Test, Deans was forced to revamp his back line, after Berrick Barnes had to return home to Australia because of his serious ankle injury, picking Ashley-Cooper and Cross as his centre combination against the All Blacks.
Deans was clearly unenthused by that partnership, prompting him to move Ashley-Cooper back to fullback for the Twickenham Test, while Ioane goes from the wing to outside-centre. Cooper takes over inside centre, while Drew Mitchell moves onto Ioane's wing.
For some time, Deans has been interested in playing Ioane in the centres, but had been thwarted when injuries forced him out of the Tri Nations series.
The Wallabies coach had encouraged Queensland to move Ioane from the wing to the midfield, and the 24-year-old responded with several outstanding performances at No13 for the Reds.
Deans firmly believes Ioane has what it takes to be a top shelf Test outside centre.
Cooper, whose spectacular performance against Gloucester on Tuesday night dramatically boosted his Test claims, is also no stranger to inside centre.
Although known primarily as a flyhalf, Cooper's first run on Test for Australia was at inside centre against Italy in Melbourne in June.
He also played the bulk of last year' s Test against Wales in Cardiff at No12, after Stirling Mortlock was forced off in the opening minutes following a head clash.
It is clear that Deans is looking for speed and adventure in the midfield, but serious question marks remain about their defensive capabilities, especially as Cooper's erratic defence has sometimes been exposed.
Cross has reason to feel miffed that he has been demoted to the bench, as he did not get many attacking chances in Tokyo, and performed well against Gloucester.
Pocock similarly had one of his better performances against the All Blacks, but the plan on this Grand Slam tour appears to be that he and Smith share the openside flanker starting role against England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Earlier Wallabies skipper Rocky Elsom had admitted Australian rugby's international credibility goes on the line at Twickenham.
SUNDAY
Cook Cup: Australia v England at Twickenham, 1.30am. TV time: Live on Fox Sports1. Wallabies team: Adam Ashley-Cooper, Peter Hynes, Digby Ioane, Quade Cooper, Drew Mitchell, Matt Giteau, Will Genia, Wycliff Palu, George Smith, Rocky Elsom (capt), Mark Chisholm, James Horwill, Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Benn Robinson. Reserves: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Matt Dunning, Dean Mumm, David Pocock, Luke Burgess, Ryan Cross, James O'Connor.
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