Just a week after coming on as a replacements against the Lions, Bay of Plenty rugby players Apoua Stewart and Paul Tupai will make their test debuts.
The Steamers pair have been selected in the Samoan side to play Australia in Sydney tomorrow night, with Stewart starting at fullback and Tupai
coming off the bench.
It caps a remarkable 12 months for Tupai, who played his 100th match for Bay of Plenty in last year's Ranfurly Shield victory over Auckland. He's now played 111 games for the union, including an NPC semifinal appearance, a match against the Lions and now a test cap.
He is believed to be Rangiuru's first test player since George Skudder and Bill Gray in the 1969 and 1956 respectively.
Manu Samoa coach Michael Jones included five new caps in the starting 15 - props Justin Vaa and Cencus Johnston, openside flanker Faleiva Motusaga, halfback Lualua Vailoaloa and Stewart - plus four more on the bench. "This tour is a development tour for us," Jones said.
"We're looking at the big picture so we want to throw guys into the deep end and see how they perform."
Trevor Leota, who missed the 2003 World Cup after a row with his English club Wasps, was named on the bench with Jonathon Meredith starting as hooker.
Veteran centre Brian Lima, who made his test debut for Western Samoa 15 years ago, was named in the starting 15 after overcoming a leg injury.
Wallabies coach Eddie Jones was not overly perturbed by the lengthy injury list for the opening test of the season, with at least eight front-line players missing from his 22-man squad.
Of special interest will be how loosehead prop Matt Dunning performs on the tighthead side of the scrum and how Rocky Elsom acquits himself in his first test as the Wallabies blindside.
