suliasi Vunivalu insists Australia is determined to “silence the Pommies” when they clash with England.
Rugby league convert Vunivalu is set to make his highly anticipated Wallabies debut from the bench, after finally overcoming the hamstring injuries that have struck repeatedly since switching codes last year.
Inspired by seeing Queensland on the fringes of New South Wales in a dramatic state of origin decision on Wednesday, Vunivalu aims to silence Eddie Jones’ tourists by making the strong start Australia failed to produce in the first two tests.
“Watching that Origin game made me look forward to our big game with that intensity from the start,” said the Fiji-born wing.
“We lacked that in the first 20 minutes with the Wallabies, so if we can bring that up and silence the Pommies, we’ll do it right.”
Head coach Dave Rennie has made four changes to the team that was beaten 25-17 in the second Test with prop James Slipper, lock Nick Frost, flanker Harry Wilson and full-back Reece Hodge starting.
Hodge is the fourth other player at age 15 for Australia from a sickening string of injuries and Rennie joked that if their bad luck in Sydney continues, Vunivalu could be on the pitch longer than planned.
“Just thinking about the past few weeks, he will probably be up in about three minutes. Suli’s time on the pitch will definitely be match dependent,” said Rennie.
“He covers quite a few spots when you consider that Reece Hodge could move. We certainly want to give him a reasonable amount of time, but we will do what is best for the team that day.”
Australia trailed 17-0 at Suncorp Stadium in the first half but only fought back for a high number of errors to undermine their attempt to grab an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series.
“This game is huge. We know that very well. We were disappointed last week and we are better than that. There is no doubt about the character of this group and we will fight,” said Rennie.
“We gave England such a great start in the last game and they are too good a side to get that kind of advantage. We have to be better and we will be.”
Australia XV: R Hodge, T Wright, H Paisami, S Kerevi, M Koroibete, N Lolesio, Nic White, J Slipper, D Porecki, T Tupou, N Frost, M Philip, H Wilson, M Hooper (capt), R Valetini.
Replacements: F Fainga’a, A Bell, A Alaalatoa, R Leota, P Samu, T McDermott, L Ikitau, S Vunivalu.