AUSTRALIAN coach Rod Macqueen yesterday admitted that he was more worried about facing Scotland and England than taking on Tri-Nations rivals New Zealand and South Africa.
He outlined his fears as he sprang two major suprises in his line-up for the first three quickfire Tests against British opposition.
Stephen Larkham, normally a winger or full back, will play at stand-off for the first time in his senior career against England at Brisbane on June 6, while veteran hooker Phil Kearns has been recalled to win his fiftieth cap after almost three years on the sidelines.
Macqueen also revealed that there were lingering injury worries over captain John Eales, flanker David Wilson, and wingers Joe Roff and Ben Tune.
The quartet have been listed in his starting line-up, but will undergo intensive treatment over the next two weeks to have any chance of playing.
The coach, though, rejects suggestions that his side were odds-on to defeat England in the one-off encounter, before seeing off the Scots twice in successive weeks.
He also scoffed at claims that both touring teams would prove ''easy touches'' because of their severely weakened squads, saying: ''If ever you wanted to find a recipe for a boilover, it is to tell a very young and inexperienced side from the other side of the world that they are understrength - and that you are going to thrash them.
''It is also the recipe for very committed teams from both Scotland and England to prove a point or two and we will treat both of them very, very seriously.''
He added: ''All the pressure will be on my guys because the Australian public will have a massive degree of expectation of what they should achieve against these teams.
''Quite frankly, I will find these three matches more difficult to approach than the ones against the All Blacks and Springboks in the Tri-Nations.''
Larkham has been switched to No.10 because of fitness problems over Elton Flatley - and also to keep the full-back berth clear for Matt Burke.
Macqueen confessed: ''There is an element of risk with Stephen, but he is a talented all-round footballer and terrific handler.
''If we don't take a chance with him now, then we might never know what we had missed.''
The Scotland squad jetted into Brisbane early today to begin preparations for Tuesday's Test against Fiji in Suva.
Australia (v England): M Burke, B Tune, D Herbert, T Horan, J Roff, S Larkham, G Gregan, R Harry, P Kearns, A Blades, T Bowman, J Eales (capt), D Wilson, M Cockbain, T Kefu.
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