While Australia were able to draft in an x-factor deputy for Folau (ankle) in Kurtley Beale, Pocock (calf) is pretty much irreplaceable and his absence is a significant boost for the Scots.
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A dejected Folau broke down at training on Friday (Friday night NZT) and left the field immediate after trying to push through the pain of strained ligaments in his ankle. “Just speaking to him there he was a little bit disappointed that it didn’t feel as good as he would’ve liked”.
“We hope having two quick guys on the paddock will help us shut them down”, said Scotland coach Vern Cotter.
The Australians won the Rugby Championship in August, sealing it with a victory over New Zealand in Sydney, while Scotland didn’t win a game in the Six Nations.
“(Against Wales) he didn’t go on when we were down numbers, he was out there and we went down numbers”, Cheika said.
Despite the loss, Cheika backed McCalman to step up to the task as he has done throughout the World Cup so far.
“We’re losing a world class player but we’re gaining a world class player”. It’s like for like.
“As the tournament moves on we must continue to get better, that’s something we really want to do and believe we have in us”.
Blair Cowan and John Hardie are the men charged with stopping openside flanker Michael Hooper, who returns from a ban.
In the only other change to the starting side, lock Rob Simmons will start for Dean Mumm who has been benched.
Ben McCalman is given the opportunity to replace Pocock at number eight, while Beale’s promotion from the bench has created space for the mercurial Quade Cooper in the match day squad.
Cooper impressed with his only chance against Uruguay, setting up tries and showing his playmaking brilliance.
“Stephen and Matt are very highly respected members of our team before they ever reached 100 Tests mark but this landmark makes all of us in the team very proud”, Cheika added. Coming off the bench is a different role for him but we’re not expecting anything except what he’s delivered for the last three or four games.
“He probably hasn’t been too pleased he hasn’t been getting as many starts as he’d like”.
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WALLABIES TEAM: 1. Scott Sio, 2. Stephen Moore (c) (99 Tests), 3. Kane Douglas, 5. Rob Simmons, 6. Scott Fardy (27 Tests), 7. Ben McCalman, 9. Will Genia, 10.
