And 20 years on from Australia's famous grand slam triumph, Campese is adamant the Wallabies have the talent to be a threat at the tournament next year despite recent off-field dramas.

New coach Michael Cheika will throw rookie Sean McMahon into battle against Wales in Cardiff on Sunday, naming the Melbourne Rebels flanker in his starting side for the first Test of the tour of Europe.

McMahon was supposed to be on holidays in Mexico, but his stellar year will continue when he earns his first Test cap in Cheika's first match in charge.

Campese visited former Randwick teammate Cheika in Cardiff on Thursday and will return to Australia in the coming weeks for a 1984 Wallabies Grand Slam reunion.

The Hall of Fame winger hoped the Wallabies could lay the foundation for World Cup success, and Australia plays two of its pool round opponents - Wales and England - on its five-week tour.

"Twelve months is a long time away, but you've got to make sure you start planning and the players have to pull their fingers out," Campese said.

"Cheik's got a tough job ... it's a year out from the World Cup and beating Wales will help. You don't want them to get a sniff. England is going to be a lot harder because we play them at the end of the tour.

"Wales are there for the taking but you've got to make sure the players and the depth, you need world class players in every position."

The 1984 Wallabies are the only Australian team to achieve the grand slam, beating England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

The side boasted some of the greatest names in Australian rugby history in Campese, Mark Ella, Nick Farr-Jones, Michael Lynagh and Andrew Slack.

Cheika is attempting to forge his path as coach two weeks after starting in the job and has put faith in the Wallabies who went within seconds of beating the world champion All Blacks in Brisbane three weeks ago.

"If we can get these guys skilled-up properly, I'm not saying they're not, but every province plays a different style," Campese said.

"When we were at our best and we won the World Cup in 1991, we had two teams - NSW and Queensland. It was easy to play, now there are five Australian teams. If all of the play aims for the Wallabies, like the All Blacks do, then we can go a long way.

"I'm not saying we're going to win the World Cup, but with our back line we just need a set of forwards to get in there and physically man up. Our back line can beat anyone in the world."

McMahon, the youngest player in the Australian squad, gets his chance as a replacement for Scott Higginbotham while Western Force prop Tetera Faulkner could earn his first international cap from the bench.

It adds to an already remarkable debut professional year for McMahon, who captained the Australian under-20s, won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal and was named Australia's Super Rugby rookie of the year.

The 20-year-old thought he was so far out of Wallabies contention that he booked a trip to Mexico with his Melbourne teammates.

But a phone call from Cheika led to him cancelling his flights and rocketing into Wallabies contention.

"Going into the Barbarians match it was made clear that players had an opportunity to push their way into the Test team with a strong performance," Cheika said.

"Sean made the most of his opportunity and brought great work-rate and physicality to our game.

"This selection also recognises the outstanding year he has had at all levels of the game, and he thoroughly deserves the chance to debut for Australia."

The Wallabies have an outstanding record against Wales, winning the past nine Tests in a row and losing just twice in the past 24 matches.

Winning the James Bevan Trophy at Millennium Stadium would be the perfect start to Cheika's tenure as coach and McMahon's Test career.

But Quade Cooper and Will Genia will bide their time on the bench after being given a chance to impress as the five-eighth-halfback combination against the Barbarians.

ACT Brumbies No. 9 Nic White has been dumped from the game-day squad after he copped heavy criticism for his role in the loss to the All Blacks.

Nick Phipps returns to the starting line-up with Genia as the back-up halfback. Matt Toomua has also failed to force his way back into the team after missing the All Blacks Test to recover from concussion.

Wallabies: 1. James Slipper, 2. Saia Faingaa, 3. Sekope Kepu, 4. Sam Carter, 5. Rob Simmons, 6. Sean McMahon, 7. Michael Hooper, 8. Ben McCalman, 9. Nick Phipps, 10. Bernard Foley, 11. Joseph Tomane, 12. Christian Lealiifano, 13. Tevita Kuridrani, 14. Adam Ashley-Cooper, 15. Israel Folau. Reserves: James Hanson, Tetera Faulkner, Ben Alexander, James Horwill, Will Skelton, Matt Hodgson, Will Genia, Quade Cooper, Rob Horne.