Test team to be 'untried' - McGeechan - Sport in brief

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McGeechan's side to face the Sharks on Wednesday night features probable Test combinations in centres Brian O'Driscoll and Jamie Roberts, plus a back row of Tom Croft, David Wallace and Jamie Heaslip.

"We will try to get combinations together but, as a XV, it is unlikely they will play as a XV before the Test match," McGeechan said.

There is also a first chance together for possible Test locks Paul O'Connell and Alun-Wyn Jones, but McGeechan insists the selection race towards Durban on June 20 will be allowed to run its full course.

And that might even mean some Test starters playing part of Tuesday week's Port Elizabeth appointment with the Southern Kings.

"The main thing had been to get everyone playing in those first three games. Now, in the next three games it is to keep looking at some of the combinations," said McGeechan.

"The only other way of doing it is you separate the teams and you say to half the squad 'You are not going to be involved in a Test match,' and I am not prepared to do that," he added.

"It's got to be about us and what we want to try and be come first Test day. There are some risks, I am aware of that, but I think what we get out of it as a squad far outweighs that.

"As far as I am concerned, we have to be fair to the players and have to construct everything we are doing that is using everybody.

"As coaches and players, we have to be very focused in our understanding of what we are trying to bring to that first Test match. Everyone has a role to play in that."