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Sapporo: Wallabies selectors have resorted to a trusted combination by selecting captain Michael Hooper and David Pocock to start in the back row to face Fiji on Saturday in Sapporo.

The Wallabies will officially announce their first team of the World Cup in Japan on Thursday but word filtered out on Wednesday that the three-man panel of Michael Cheika, director of rugby Scott Johnson and third independent selector Michael O'Connor were going to go with both Hooper and Pocock in the starting XV.

David Pocock and Michael Hooper. Credit:AAP

A source close to the team, who did not want to be named, told the Herald Pocock would start at No.6 and Hooper will wear the No.7 jersey he has donned for the majority of his career when the side begins its quest to go one better than they did at the 2015 World Cup when they fell to the All Blacks in the final.

Isi Naisarani, who debuted against the Springboks this year, is set to be named at No.8 in the position he has played in his first four Tests. Lukhan Salakaia-Loto is set to be the unlucky player to make way and will likely come off the bench.