KEY POINTS:
Wales take on Australia on Saturday (early Sunday NZ time) with the rare luxury of a full-strength backline while the Wallaby attack will be double-checking their shirt numbers as they play their part in an industrial scale reshuffle.
The two teams met a year ago with Wales winning
24-22 but both have undergone enormous changes since then - including installing new coaches.
That Cardiff defeat was Australia's eighth in nine matches and signalled the end for Eddie Jones.
John Connolly has taken over and, with an eye very much on developing a side for the World Cup, has produced an unfamiliar-looking side for Saturday's game.
With George Gregan sitting out the tour, Matt Giteau, usually a centre, is getting an extended run at halfback.
Matt Rogers starts at halfback while usual No 10 Stephen Larkham plays second five-eighth, alongside Lote Tuqiri, a winger.
There is also a new captain, flanker Phil Waugh, and some fresh faces around him in the pack, who were embarrassingly shoved all over Europe 12 months ago.
"We have full confidence in the players we have selected though this tour is about looking at different options," Connolly said.
"We understand that there is a very important year coming up ahead of the World Cup and we want to have a better idea about this squad."
Their tour got off to a bad start on Wednesday when an Australia A team packed with internationals were beaten 24-16 by the Ospreys, despite the regional club losing most of their key players to the Welsh squad.
Some of those were the men who swept Wales to the 2005 grand slam and who are now back in business after an injury-ravaged year. Only four players survive in the starting team from last November's win.
Gavin Henson, back towards his best after missing the tour to Argentina, returns to link up again in the centres with Tom Shanklin.
Gareth Thomas, fully recovered from the burst artery in his neck that threatened his career, will make earn his 89th cap as a winger while the ever-popular Kevin Morgan is at fullback after returning from yet more surgery.
With new captain Stephen Jones partnering Dwayne Peel at halfback and Shane Williams on the right wing it is a backline full of pace and creativity and capable of piercing any defence.
With Jenkins still settling into the role as coach and the dust still not entirely settled after the departure of his predecessor Mike Ruddock, Wales are also in something of a developmental stage.
"This squad of 30 or so players is the strongest that Wales have been able to boast for some time but we are at the beginning of a process as a management group and this is our first chance to get it right," Jenkins said.
For all the talk of experimentation, however, a full house at the Millennium Stadium to launch the entire series of November internationals should ensure a mighty encounter.
And with the teams destined to meet again next September at the same stadium in the pool stages of the World Cup, both will be eager to put down a marker.
TEAMS
Wales:
Kevin Morgan, Gareth Thomas, Tom Shanklin, Gavin Henson, Shane Williams, Stephen Jones (captain), Dwayne Peel, Ryan Jones, Martyn Williams, Jonathan Thomas, Ian Evans, Ian Gough, Adam Jones, Matthew Rees, Gethin Jenkins.
Reserves:
Rhys Thomas, Duncan Jones, Gavin Thomas, Alun Wyn Jones, Michael Phillips, James Hook, Mark Jones.
Australia:
Chris Latham, Clyde Rathbone, Lote Tuqiri, Stephen Larkham, Cameron Shepherd, Mat Rogers, Matt Giteau, Wycliff Palu, Phil Waugh (captain), Rocky Elsom, Dan Vickerman, Nathan Sharpe, Rodney Blake, Tai McIsaac, Al Baxter.
Reserves:
Brendan Cannon, Benn Robinson, Mark Chisholm, Stephen Hoiles, Josh Valentine, Mark Gerrard, Adam Ashley-Cooper.
Referee: Steve Walsh (New Zealand)
- REUTERS
