Sydney - The gulf in depth of rugby playing stock between Australia and New Zealand was never more evident than in the respective starting sides for the first match in this year's Rugby Championship.
The Wallabies, who host the All Blacks in Sydney on Saturday (kickoff 1000 GMT), were humiliated 3-0 by England in June and have brought back three veteran players in Will Genia, Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley-Cooper, who ply their trade offshore.
Their experience should help settle the backline down, though their inclusion is also a sign of deeper symptomatic problems regarding the playing stocks within Australian rugby.
The Australian Rugby Union had to relax its selection policy last year, introducing an exemption that allowed for the selection of overseas based players who met certain eligibility requirements.
That exemption has allowed coach Michael Cheika to bolster his Rugby Championship squad, though he is still focused on developing greater depth as he builds towards the 2019 World Cup in Japan.
Despite that desire to blood as many players as possible within the next two years, the Wallabies have 13 starting members of the side who lost 34-17 to the All Blacks in last year's World Cup final set to run out on Saturday.
In fact, 20 of Cheika's 23-strong matchday squad appeared at Twickenham last October.
In contrast, the All Blacks have just seven of their World Cup final first 15 starting on Saturday and 11 of their 23-man squad appearing after six stalwarts retired following the final.
That turnover, however, does not equate to inexperience, with many of the players named for the match, which also doubles as the first game in the struggle for the trans-Tasman Bledisloe Cup, having spent considerable time in the All Blacks set-up.
Players like openside flanker Sam Cane and flyhalf Beauden Barrett have accumulated more than 30 caps each, while loosehead prop Wyatt Crockett is nearing 50. Replacement tighthead prop Charlie Faumuina has more than 30 test appearances.
One major area of concern for All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, since Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu were amongst the six who retired, has been in the midfield.
Malakai Fekitoa and Ryan Crotty start on Saturday and the pair have rarely let Hansen down in their short test careers so far.
However, with the season-ending Achilles injury to Sonny Bill Williams at the Olympics, a knee injury to George Moala and ongoing concussion issues for Charlie Ngatai, Cheika's stocks in this area are severely depleted.
Regular fullback Ben Smith, named on the wing for Saturday, and winger Waisake Naholo ended up in the centres in the final match of their series against Wales in June and could end up there again on Saturday if needed. – Reuters