Croft to captain Australia 'A'

Openside flanker David Croft will captain Australia 'A' in their one-off tour match against the powerful French Barbarians in Bordeaux on Tuesday, with fellow Wallaby and scrum-half Matt Henjak named as vice-captain.

The decision by Wallaby coach Eddie Jones - who will also coach the 'A' team - to name Henjak as vice-captain is a major surprise, since the No.9 was sent home from the Wallabies trip to South Africa for his antics in a Cape Town nightclub.

Henjak was involved in a scrap with some of his own team-mates - which not only saw the scrum-half being sent home in disgrace, but also resulted in hefty fines for wingers Lote Tuqiri and Wendell Sailor.

But Henjak appears to be forgiven for his lack of discipline and will have a key role to play on Tuesday.

Croft, who made his Test debut in 2002 and was a member of the Wallabies World Cup Squad in 2003, will lead a young Australia 'A' team against strong opposition of international standard.

"It's a great honour to be asked to captain Australia 'A', and the blokes are really looking forward to the challenge," said Croft.

"Just over a week ago I was in Argentina on tour with the Reds and now we're in Bordeaux preparing for what we know is going to be a big match.

"It's a young team, but there's been plenty of enthusiasm in the sessions we've had so far and everyone knows this match is a chance to put your name forward for Test selection."

Jones says the Barbarians will be the equivalent of a French 'A' side with the inclusion of some seasoned internationals.

"They've picked a strong side with a number of second tier French players and the addition of seasoned internationals like Justin Marshall and Kees Meeuws.  It's going to be good match and real test for a number of our players.

"In the front row especially they will be tough.  Meeuws is an established international while the young French prop Yannick Forester is one of their real up and comers."

"The hooker, Benoît August is a good talent and Nic Henderson, Tatafu Polota-Nau, Greg Holmes and David Fitter are certainly going to benefit from scrummaging against such talent."

With nine uncapped players in the Australia 'A' line-up, including Wallaby squad debutants Polota-Nau, Leroy Houston, Digby Ioane, Adam Wallace-Harrison and Cameron Shepherd the match is a good opportunity for a number of players.

"Last year, this same match showed us who had the ability to play at this level, and some players even played their way into the Test 22.  It's a one off match but an important one for a number of players.

"We've selected a young team, with 14 players under the age of 24 and David Croft has the experience to lead them well.  He thoroughly deserves the honour of captaining Australia A against the Barbarians."

Australia 'A': 15 Cameron Shepherd, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Lloyd Johansson, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Lachlan MacKay, 9 Matt Henjak (vice-captain), 8 Leroy Houston, 7 David Croft (captain), 6 Scott Fava, 5 Hugh McMeniman, 4 Adam Wallace-Harrison, 3 David Fitter, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Greg Holmes.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Nic Henderson, 18 Alister Campbell, 19 John Roe, 20 Brett Sheehan, 21 Mat Rogers, 22 Drew Mitchell.

French Barbarians: 15 Clément Poitrenaud (Toulouse), 14 Pépito Elhorga (France), 13 Guillaume Bousses (France), 12 Conrad Stoltz (South Africa), 11 Sireli Bobo (Fiji), 10 Jean Frédéric Dubois (Toulouse) 9 Justin Marshall (New Zealand, captain), 8 Pierre Rabadan (France), 7 Grégory Patat (France), 6 Julien Puricelli (France), 5 David Couzinet (France), 4 Mike James (Canada), 3 Kees Meeuws (New Zealand), 2 Benoît August (France), 1 Yannick Forester (France).
Replacements: Benjamin Boyet (France), Maleli Kunavore (Fiji), Dimitri Yachvili (France), Alex Manta (Romania), Nicolas Spanghero (Castres), Grégory Menkarska (France), Romain Terrain (France).

Kick-off: 15.00 (14.00 GMT, 04.00 Wed 2 Nov ASET)
Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Touch judges: Christophe Berdos, Romain Poite (both France)