Six uncapped players in Australia squad to face Scotland

Australia head coach Michael Cheika has named six uncapped players in his squad for the autumn internationals. Picture: Getty Images

The Wallabies play Japan in Yokohama on Saturday before arriving on British shores to face Wales, England and Scotland on consecutive weekends.

In-form Waratahs flanker Jack Dempsey has been ruled out by a hamstring injury, leading to the inclusion of Ben McCalman, who could play his 50th Test 15 months after winning his 49th cap.

Lock Rory Arnold’s knee problem has opened the door for uncapped pair Matt Philip and Blake Enever, while Jermaine Ainsley is out with an ankle injury.

There is no place for Quade Cooper in the squad. Picture: Getty Images

Centre Billy Meakes and outside back Izaia Perese could also make their debuts, while there is no place for fly-half Quade Cooper.

Full-back Jack Maddocks and backrower Liam Wright are the other uncapped players in the 32-man squad, with the pair included by Cheika as development players.

Cheika said: “Lukhan (Tui) won’t be available for the first two games of the tour because of his hamstring but we feel he will be ready for games three and four so it’s worth bringing him.

“I wanted to give to the opportunity to two new younger guys (at lock) who have had good Super Rugby seasons, and I think Matt Philip has improved out of sight from game one to the final round.

“Rory (Arnold) has a tear in his muscle and it’s come away from the quad so he will have an operation to fix that and he will be out for about four to five weeks.

“Jack (Dempsey) has torn two tendons in his hamstring so he will have an operation to re-attach those and it’s a three to four month return so he will be back next year for Super Rugby.

“We’ll be looking to pick our best side for every Test of the tour. These are important matches and we want to be build a consistent, winning mindset and that’s something we want to pass onto next year’s team.”