Australia great Moore starts against Scotland in last Test
Australia's Stephen Moore will start his 129th and final Test after being named as the Wallabies' first-choice hooker by coach Michael Cheika for the tour finale against Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday. Moore, who earlier this week confirmed he would be retiring from all rugby union after this weekend's match in Edinburgh, came off the bench during last weekend's 30-6 defeat by England at Twickenham. But he has now changed places with Tatafu Polota-Nau for the final Test of the 34-year-old Queensland front-row forward's career. At the other end of the experience spectrum, 21-year-old Taniela Tupou us in in line to make his Test debut against Scotland after being named on the bench. The tighthead prop, known as 'the Tongan Thor', gets his chance after completing a three-year residency requirement. Meanwhile, fellow Queenslander Lukhan Tui is back among the replacements after suffering a hamstring strain against the Barbarians a month ago. The most recent meeting between Scotland and Australia saw the Scots win 24-19 in Sydney in June, arguably their most impressive victory since Gregor Townsend took over as coach following the end of the 2016/17 European season. The last six Scotland-Australia games have witnessed three wins apiece, including the Wallabies' dramatic 35-34 World Cup quarter-final win at Twickenham two years ago, with just seven points splitting the sides in their last three meetings. Cheika heads into the match knowing he will not face disciplinary action after officials looked into allegations of a foul-mouthed rant during last week's crushing loss to England. Cheika was infuriated by several decisions that went against Australia at Twickenham on Saturday and when a try by Wallaby captain Michael Hooper was disallowed in the first half, he appeared to mouth an expletive in response to referee Ben O'Keeffe's ruling. But autumn international disciplinary chiefs, after looking into Cheika's conduct for several days, decided no action was required, although they warned that in future he should "moderate his conduct and language". Scotland, who came agonisingly close to a first win over world champions New Zealand before losing 22-17 at Murrayfield last weekend, named their side on Wednesday. "Scotland's recent history against Australia has been one of close-fought matches and, after a couple of narrow defeats, we managed to record a win last June out in Sydney," Townsend said on Wednesday. "Our players have been training hard and will draw on all they've learned in the games against Samoa and New Zealand to rise to the challenge of this final autumn Test." Australia (15-1) Kurtley Beale; Marika Koroibete, Tevita Kuridrani, Samu Kerevi, Reece Hodge; Bernard Foley, Will Genia; Sean McMahon, Michael Hooper (capt), Ben McCalman; Blake Enever, Rob Simmons; Sekope Kepu, Stephen Moore, Scott Sio Replacements: Tatafu Polota-Nau, Tetera Faulkner, Taniela Tupou, Lukhan Tui, Lopeti Timani, Nick Phipps, Karmichael Hunt, Henry Speight
