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Out of favor Australia drops fullback Burke for Maori clash
SYDNEY (Reuters) -- Australia has dropped World Cup record scorer Matthew Burke for its opening match of the season against New Zealand Maori. Burke, who scored a record 25 points in Australia's 1999 World Cup final win over France, was dropped for the first time in seven years after the Wallaby selectors went for Chris Latham at fullback and Andrew Walker and Joe Roff on the wings. However, Burke could still find himself in the starting line-up if Roff is unable to recover from an ankle injury. The Australian Rugby Union (ARU) released a statement Thursday to say Roff's ACT Brumbies Super 12 teammate Graeme Bond had been called into the squad on standby for Roff. Bond would be given a place on the bench and Burke promoted to the starting side if Roff was ruled out, the ARU said. "This is an important game for us and we have to pick players on form," Australia coach Rod Macqueen said. "It's important that we hit the ground running this year and the players who have been chosen are the form players at the moment." Australia are using the one-off match at the Sydney Football Stadium as a warmup for the series against the British and Irish Lions but the match is expected to be anything but friendly. Caps will not be awarded but both teams are treating the match seriously with players pushing for selection in their respective test sides. "There are 11 All Blacks in the Maori team so we know this is going to be full-on, but it's just want we want," Macqueen said. "It's important for us to have a really hard match before the Lions because we would have been left a little underdone otherwise." With Burke relegated to the bench, Elton Flatley will take over the kicking duties after winning the inside centre spot vacated by Tim Horan. Uncapped loosehead prop Nick Stiles was named in the front row with Jeremy Paul promoted to first-choice hooker after starting as a reserve for the past two seasons. New Zealand Maori were due to arrive in Australia on Thursday night after a fiery build-up to the match which included a training punch-up between teammates. The Maori have won their last 21 first-class matches dating back to 1994 and are desperate to add the world champion to their list of victims. Six of their eight starting forwards and five of the seven backs have played for the All Blacks and all of their players are in contention for the test team this year. Australia: 15-Chris Latham; 14-Andrew Walker, 13-Daniel Herbert, 12-Elton Flatley, 11-Joe Roff; 10-Stephen Larkham, 9-George Gregan; 8-Toutai Kefu, 7-George Smith, 6-Matt Cockbain, 5-John Eales (captain), 4-David Giffin; 3-Glenn Panoho, 2-Jeremy Paul, 1-Nick Stiles. New Zealand Maori: 15-Carlos Spencer; 14-Roger Randle, 13-Caleb Ralph, 12-Daryl Gibson, 11-Bruce Reihana; 10-Glen Jackson, 9-Rhys Duggan; 8-Deon Muir (captain), 7-Taine Randell, 6-Troy Flavell, 5-Mark Cooksley, 4-Norm Maxwell, 3-Deacon Manu, 2-Norm Hewitt, 1-Greg Feek.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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