Wallaroos shift Palu from midfield to blindside in team for England

Coach Jay Tregonning has pulled a surprise in the Wallaroos line-up to face world No.1-ranked England in the WXV1 rugby tournament, switching centre Siokapesi Palu to the back-row.

The Australians open their campaign in Wellington against England on Friday night, followed by matches against France and Wales.

Palu plays in the centres for the ACT Brumbies but Tregonning said the transition of the 27-year-old to the blindside flanker role had been months in the making.

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“She’s been working all year as a bit of a utility for us, floating between the centres and the back-row and she’s really come a long way,” the coach said.

“She brings a good line-out option and a great ball-carry for us.”

In other changes, 23-year-old NSW prop Brianna Hoy will make her Wallaroos debut as one of six changes in the starting XV from the team’s loss to New Zealand last month.

Reds halfback Sarah Dougherty and Waratahs outside back Desiree Miller are also in line for their first Test caps after being included on the bench.

NSW lock Atasi Lafai makes her return to the match-day squad for the first time in over a year, having suffered a serious ankle injury during last year’s Rugby World Cup.

The Wallaroos qualified as one of six teams in the inaugural top-tier tournament, hosted by New Zealand.

Tregonning said exposure to the Six Nations’ northern-hemisphere sides would be valuable and a different challenge for the fifth-ranked Australians, who most regularly face New Zealand.

“England are obviously very set-piece dominant and will take us to our set-piece fairly regularly,” he said.

“We know that the Black Ferns like to attack from anywhere and are a bit more unpredictable whereas England, we kind of know what’s there and it’s down to us to try to stop that and we’ve been working hard on our set-piece.

“It’s an awesome opportunity for the Wallaroos to play against Six Nations states and for this to occur every year to increase the the experience of the group is outstanding.”

Captain Michaela Leonard, who has a new lock partner in Annabelle Codey, said it was exciting for the team to challenge themselves against the best in the world.

She has recent experience playing with and against the England players, having spent a season with UK club Exeter.

“We want to keep challenging ourselves to be the best in the world and to do that we need to compete with the best in the world,” said Leonard, who was a star junior basketballer before taking up rugby in 2018.

“Getting the opportunity to play against England, France and Wales during this campaign is just going to help building on what we’ve learned over the last few months against the Black Ferns and help putting us in good stead to challenge the world standings and keep moving up that ranking.”

Wallaroos: Brianna Hoy, Tania Naden, Eva Karpani, Michaela Leonard (c), Annabelle Codey, Siokapesi Palu, Emily Chancellor, Kaitlan Leaney, Layne Morgan, Carys Dallinger, Ivania Wong, Arabella McKenzie, Georgina Friedrichs, Maya Stewart, Faitala Moleka. Res: Adiana Talakai, Bree-Anna Cheatham, Emily Robinson, Atasi Lafai, Ashley Marsters, Sarah Dougherty, Cecilia Smith, Desiree Miller.