Wallabies drop Foley and switch Beale to 10

Bernard Foley has been benched to make way for Kurtley Beale to start at stand-off for Australia in tomorrow’s Rugby Championship Test against South Africa.

The demotion of Foley, below, who started in all 51 previous Test appearances, and the shift of Beale from centre to stand-off, where he hasn’t started a Test since 2014, overshadowed the return from injury of full-back Israel Folau.

Folau had given himself only a 50-50 chance of being fit to play this weekend as he recovered from an ankle injury which forced him to miss Australia’s 40-12 loss to New Zealand in their previous championship match. His return boosts the Wallabies, who are coming off back-to-back losses to the All Blacks. They take on a Springboks side with reshuffled front row and midfield following their 32-19 loss to Argentina in Mendoza two weeks ago. In the other Championship match, stand-off Richie Mo’unga will start a Test for the first time and scrum-half Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi could make his debut from the bench for New Zealand against Argentina in Nelson.

The 24-year-old Mo’unga has starred in the Super Rugby for the Christchurch-based Crusaders and was seen as the form No 10 at the start of the international season, challenging World Player of the Year Beauden Barrett.

Barrett saw off his challenge when he guided the All Blacks to wins over Australia in the first two matches of the Championship, scoring four tries in the second game.

Head coach Steve Hansen hasgivenmo’ungaachance to step up from Super Rugby and test his skills at international level.

Hansen made nine changes to the lineup which beat Australia in Auckland.