WALLABIES CAPTAIN David Pocock plans to lead by example when Australia meets Scotland in Newcastle on Tuesday.
It will be the first time the Western Force captain has led Australia at full international level with coach Robbie Deans set to field five debutants for the clash.
“I’m definitely going to lead by actions rather than the big speech,” Pocock said. ”We go into the game with limited preparation, it will all be about ensuring everyone’s on the same page, keeping it simple and we will execute the simple things.
“It’s important to start positively, it’s all about winning and the leaders and decision-makers will be driving what’s best for the team to get into a position to win.”
Deans has handed debuts to two New Zealand-born backs, Mike Harris and Joe Tomane, as well as full-back Luke Morahan, blindside flanker Dave Dennis and prop Dan Palmer. The Wallabies coach expects Pocock to lead the line well after excelling in his role at the Force.
“We’ve had a consistent leadership group over the last couple of years and David (Pocock) has been part of that,” Deans said. ”That group will remain pretty consistent going forward. He’s had experience in game as well of leading the Force this year. He’s doing a great job.”
Deans suggested the Wallabies would take the game to Scotland from the kick-off despite Quade Cooper missing out on his comeback from injury, with Berrick Barnes preferred at fly-half.
“We’ll play positively and we see Berrick (Barnes) as being an important part of that. ”I see it advantageous to us in having Berrick in the role he’s in.
“The key for him is to have people working off him and we’ve had a couple of runs to that effect and it’s certainly been a big part of our dialogue. We’ll see how successful we are on the day.”
