Owen Finegan: Cheika has picked perfect XV
1999 World Cup winning Wallaby Owen Finegan believes Michael Cheika has named the best possible Australian side for tonight’s clash against Fiji and is confident the Wallabies are good enough to claim an unprecedented third Rugby World Cup in just under six weeks time.
“I wouldn’t have changed one of the selections across the board I think they’ve got the strongest team out of that squad that they could possibly put together, the former backrower told Rugby News.
“Barring injuries, I’d expect that same team to play against England next week."
Finegan was one of the Wallabies best in 1999, scoring one of two tries in the Wallabies 35-12 victory over France in the final.
Although he was full of praise for the current crop of Wallabies, he said it was hard to draw comparisons to the 1999 squad.
“We had a couple of lean years in 96 and 97 but then in 98 and all of 99 we were constantly winning. In 1998 we beat the All Blacks three times and in 1999 we won the Tri-Nations