EDINBURGH (Reuters) – The return of Michael Hooper to the Australia team and a potential first Scotland cap for ex-Wallaby Jack Demspey will command most of attention in the first of the autumn internationals at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Hooper quit the Australian team on the eve of their clash in Argentina in July and has not played since, but returns as the Wallabies begin a demanding programme of tests across Europe over the next five weeks, starting with the Scots.
Hooper’s request to leave the team and go home was partially explained this week as a desire to return to his young family amid some mental turmoil, but the former Wallaby captain said he was raring to return to the test arena in what will be his 122nd cap and on his 31st birthday.
In the other matchday squad is former teammate Demspey, who won 14 caps for Australia between 2017-2019 but is now eligible for the Scots, who have named him among the replacements for Saturday’s game.
Dempsey moved to Glasgow Warriors last year and is among changes made by coach Gregor Townsend after narrowly losing their mid-year test series in Argentina.
Townsend sacked Stuart Hogg as skipper and appointed Jaime Ritche instead while controversially omitting mercurial flyhalf Finn Russell from the squad for their four tests over the next month.
But the coach would not have been able to pick Russell for Saturday’s game anyway, because it is outside the window for test rugby and means that Scotland can only select home-based players for the Australia game, but will have a full squad available for their next tests against Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina.
Townsend is backing the talent of Blair Kinghorn as Scotland’s playmaker and his performance at flyhalf will be eagerly watched.
Australia begin a potentially bruising schedule of five successive tests – against all Six Nations teams, except England – with an eye on next year’s World Cup in France.
“We’ve got a massive opportunity over the next five matches to test ourselves against some of the best teams in the world and string together some performances that our supporters are proud of back home in Australia,” said their coach Dave Rennie.
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Mike Harrison)
