Wallabies waiting on Cheika to reveal his hand

Four weeks of cat-and-mouse will come to an end when Michael Cheika delivers the Wallabies team he believes can topple England at the Rugby World Cup.

Cheika has rotated his troops through the pool phase, not endearing himself to those who believe a rock-solid XV should have already been established ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final in Oita.

The coach, though, believes he has the player depth to create a sense of competition.

Cheika’s 68th, and possibly final, Australian team announcement will be made today and finalise who he rates as his premier outside back combination, along with his desired loose forward mix.

The identity of his first-choice fiveveeighth has also o been uncertain in Japan, having changed in every game, but Cheika’s comment on Monday that he has delibberately rested Chrishristian Lealiifano to keep him physically sharp suggests the veteran will wear No.10.

Out wide the return of Reece Hodge (pictured) following suspension gives Cheika access to a player he’s trusted on the right wing all year, but there are options galore there including the in-form Dane H Haylett-petty, 19y year-old Jordan Petaia and veteran Adam Ashley-cooper. The big stage might m not prevent Cheika Ch from taking a punt pun on Petaia, who was quiet against Georgia last week but showed great promise on debut against Uruguay a week earlier.

Hodge himself conceded nothing was guaranteed and that Petaia had all the weapons to be a Test star.

“He’s a pretty special player, so to see him score a try on debut and have some pretty special touches was pretty cool,” Hodge said.

“We all knew it was going to happen at some point, but obviously Swoop (AshleyCooper) put in a couple of really good performances against Wales and Uruguay.

“Dane’s a consistent performer as well and KB’S (Kurtley Beale) had some special touches.

“We’ll need to see. No spot is ever guaranteed in the team.”