Gower, Prince
to lead Australia against France

Coach Wayne Bennett will trial Craig Gower and Scott Prince as Australia's possible Tri-Nations halves in Saturday's (Sunday morning AEDT) one-off Test against France at Aime Giral Stadium in Perpignan.

With champion five-eighth and tour captain Darren Lockyer out of the remainder of the series with a broken foot and his logical replacement Trent Barrett unable to play because of a mysterious foot problem, Bennett may fall back on playing Gower and Prince in the last Tri-Nations pool match against Great Britain and also in the final at Elland Road on November 26.

It means Roosters utility Craig Wing will have to jump off a plane following a long flight from Hawaii and play as many minutes as possible at hooker and dummy half against France.

Gower will make his debut as Test captain in his 16th international for Australia.