Wallaby coach Robbie Deans is set to call up and handful of players from Australia after his squad was further depleted by injuries in Pretoria.
Deans was in a sombre mood after Saturday's heavy loss to the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld and admitted that he would likely be forced to shuffle his injury-ravaged team once again for next weekend's clash with the Pumas in Argentina.
Deans was not yet in position to give a full update on the injury list at the post-match press conference but did say that centre Adam Ashley-Cooper had undergone a CT scan after being knocked out cold while performing a try-saving tackle on Zane Kirchner.
"[Ashley-Cooper] is up and about, which is encouraging for him because it didn't look good," said Deans.
"Berrick Barnes is having an x-ray (on his chest) and there are a couple of other blokes in the shed that will need some follow up.
"We are going to have to bring some players across from Australia which is going to be challenging because we've already delved so deep into our resources that there will be a couple of players who won't yet have visas organised.
"Organising a visa for Argentina is not straight forward so it is possible that some of the blokes won't get there in time for training."
Digby Ioane (knee), Radike Samo (shoulder) and Tatafu Polota Nau (shoulder) were all forced off during the course of the game.
The visitors were forced to finish the game with just 14-men, and with uncontested scrums, as the injury toll meant all of their substitutions had been used and Polota Nau could not be replaced.
"I have never seen anything like that in terms of carnage," said Deans.
"We were down to 13 men at one point and not being able to make that last replacement put us under the pump."
"It could have blow out even more," he, praising the pride shown in the closing stages.
"We were severely compromised in terms of the line-up, but they hung on."
Captain Nathan Sharpe gave credit to the Springboks.
"The Boks played well in the middle 40 [minutes]. From there we just gave them too many points," he said.
Comments
piriaka says...
Giteau was only interested in Giteau - was toxic I'd say - even with Brumbies and Force. Check it out. Good to have him gone.
Posted 02:55 30th September 2012
Waz4before says...
I've lost faith in Deans now and think it's time for him to go. But no matter who is Coach they would struggle with the same problem in terms of squad depth, there's no doubt the current injury crisis may compound a long list of already natured players and there are very fe obvious choices to choose from - again Australia need to create a 2nd tier competition like the ITM or Currie cup to nurture young talent; perhaps the obvious thing to do is play a QLD & NSW side in the ITM?
Posted 02:43 30th September 2012
Trinats2 says...
sirtidychris:
Deans kicked Giteau out because he didn't agree with some of Deans' calls !!!
Posted 02:33 30th September 2012
sirtidychris says...
Matt giteau just be sorely missed at the moment..even before the injury crisis there should have been a place for him...why they didn't take him to the Rwc ill never know!
Posted 23:37 29th September 2012
melkdave says...
Well calling up more players from Australia is going to really test the depth of australian rugby,Its not as if they have alot of quality players atm.Journeymen players yes,but the way australia want to play,means having alot of quality players.I guess R.Deans will have to rejig the gameplan again now..Wonder if JOC is going to be fit to play,didnt i read he should be ok for the away leg against the pumas somewhere,or am i misinformed??
Posted 21:12 29th September 2012