By Country / Australia

South Africa captain John Smit has been handed the captain's armband for the glittering star-studded Barbarians side to face Australia at Wembley on Wednesday.

Jake White and Eddie Jones, who masterminded the Springboks most recent World Cup triumph have selected six of 2007s heroes, joining fellow trophy holder, George Gregan and All-Black legends, Richie McCaw, Joe Rokocoko, Chris Jack and Jerry Collins.

Barbarians: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Rico Gear, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Frans Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Jerry Collins, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Johan Muller, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 Census Johnston, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Federico Pucciariello.

Replacements: 16 Mark Regan, 17 Rodney Blake, 18 Chris Jack, 19 Nick Koster, 20 George Gregan, 21 Ollie Smith, 22 Shane Williams

Wales butchered it against the Boks and were nuked by a second half New Zealand storm, so can the Dragons catch the perfect Australian wave and stop the southern tide this weekend?

Taking over from France as Europe's rugby equivalent of Jeykll & Hyde, Wales have fluctuated between their tongue-wagging best and rotten uninspiring world cup form this autumn.

For all their talents, and there is a lorry-load, climbing the consistent heights of this year's Six Nations Grand Slam has proved a major obstacle.

Shane Williams has forgotten what space is and missing Gavin Henson's midfield imagination have been noticeable negatives of the international break.

Australia are aiming for their first unbeaten tour since 1996, but Wales, carrying the hopes of the northern hemisphere, are dead-set on a southern scalp to cap a fantastic 2008.

Williams might've bagged the IRB's World Player of the Year last week, but if there is currently a more influential operator on a rugby field than Matt Giteau then we're all ears.

Martyn Williams must step up and nullify the maverick's full compliment of skills, especially off-loading out of the tackle and kicking for territory. Stop Giteau and you stop the Wallabies.

Stirling Mortlock has been a revelation as the battering ram in midfield with his short sharp bursts allowing for clean-quck ball. Jamie Roberts has passed mock exams against Jean de Villiers and Ma'a Nonu but the Wallaby skipper is the yardstick.

A slender two point victory over the Wallabies in 2005 was only their second win in 33 games over the SANZAR nations since the turn of professionalism and chances like this weekend don't come gift-wrapped too often.

Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Mark Jones, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Andy Powell, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Ryan Jones (c), 5 Alun-Wyn Jones, 4 Ian Gough, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.

Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 John Yapp, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 James Hook, 22 Andrew Bishop.

Australia: 15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Stirling Mortlock (c), 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 Phil Waugh, 6 Hugh McMeniman, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Mark Chisholm, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.

Replacements: 16 Adam Freier, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Sam Cordingley, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Lote Tuqiri/Adam Ashley-Cooper

England’s World Cup triumph in 2003 is a mere blip. Those 12 consecutive victories over the southern hemisphere trio under Sir Clive Woodward is nothing but a spike on the chart.

Unless Wales somehow conjure up a moral-boosting victory over the Wallabies, as England have got next to no hope, another uninspiring autumn will have passed with a excruciating 20-0 southern hemisphere whitewash.

The facts display no compassion, highlighting England taste victory just once every five matches against the All-Blacks while Wales make the Wallabies work marginally harder for their 67% success rate.

It would be easy to blame the Experimental Law Variations but truthfully the northern hemisphere teams basic skills have been shoddy.

The removal of the maul has killed-off the effectiveness of the line-out but kings of that art, South Africa, are now utilising the lethal abilities of their rampant back-row to full ferocious capacity.

Athletically speaking Messrs Spies, Botha, Williams, McCaw, Sharpe and Smith have overpowered, overrun and shown to be technically far superior to their northern hemisphere rivals.

Perhaps that awful quick-tap rule isn’t so bad after all? It’s certainly been the tonic for an extra forward fizz.

The Super 14 and Tri-Nations competitions have faced more criticism than X-Factor duffer Daniel over its supposed lack of a competitive sparkle, but rather than a good excuse for a holiday, it demands a far greater excellence.

Harder grounds and more generous weather encourages faster, running rugby, so the International Rugby Board must act fast to bring synergy to the calendar.

Consistency brings confidence. And so does preparation. Professionalism must unite and put an end to this ugly club and country bickering.

All is not lost. England’s U20s grabbed silver in 2008’s Junior World Championships but the RFU must look at ways to get these fledgling twentysomethings into top-level competition rather than festering in the run of the mill, Guinness A-League.

Maybe this was Sir Clive Woodward’s masterplan? Unfortunately we’ll never know…

Few players experience the relentless blood and thunder of Test match rugby before completing their provincial initiations but Quantas Wallabies hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau doesn’t get intimidated by a challenge.

Winning his first cap at Twickenham against England back in 2005, at least second time around he wasn’t part of a front-row that got shunted around like a matador on an angry bull.

As someone who knows what it’s like to uncover one’s tail from between their arse-cheeks, the shift from flanker to the fulcrum of the scrum is not so forgiving on the muscles, especially the shoulders. Full of smiles and the team’s fancy dress expert, Taf's whirlwind first year at hooker was crowned by winning the IRB U21 Player of the Year.