Australia kick off their campaign on Saturday, sandwiched between defending champions England, and every bookies favourites, New Zealand, but are fully prepared to send their own statement of intent to all the World's elite.

Connolly said;

"We had always planned to play our strongest team for our first two pool matches. We want to build towards the Wales match with a strong performance on Saturday and we will get a good opportunity to do that against Japan."

Berrick Barnes, the one surprise inclusion of Connolly's squad, has forced his way into the squad, the uncapped 21 year old takes a spot on the bench, with his coach saying;

"We thought it was in Berrick's interest to involve him in the game early before we throw him in at the end, just for his own development and feeling comfortable in the team. We've included Barnes because we thought it was important to get him into the mix and playing, and we're comfortable with that."

The side looks as follows;

Australia Side vs Canada

Chris Latham; Adam Ashley-Cooper, Stirling Mortlock (capt), Matt Giteau, Lote Tuqiri; Stephen Larkham, George Gregan; Matt Dunning, Stephen Moore, Al Baxter, Nathan Sharpe, Dan Vickerman, Rocky Elsom, George Smith, Wycliff Palu.

Adam Freier, Guy Shepherdson, Hugh McMeniman, Stephen Hoiles, Berrick Barnes, Drew Mitchell, Mark Gerrard

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