Michael Hooper, Adam Coleman to miss Georgia clash

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Australia's Michael Hooper (left) is tackled by Fiji's Frank Lomani during the 2019 Rugby World Cup Pool D match at Sapporo Dome. PA Photo. Picture date: Saturday September 21, 2019. See PA story RUGBYU Australia. Photo credit should read: David Davies/PA Wire. RESTRICTIONS: Editorial use only. Strictly no commercial use or association. Still image use only. Use implies acceptance of RWC 2019 T&Cs (in particular Section 5 of RWC 2019 T&Cs) at: https://bit.ly/2knOId6

Wallabies captain and flanker Michael Hooper as well as lock Adam Coleman have been ruled out of Friday’s final pool match against Georgia. 

The duo were set to start on the replacements bench but Hooper played no part in Thursday’s captain’s run in Shizuoka with Lukhan Salakaia-Loto running in his place in full captain’s run gear.

Coleman has been replaced by Rob Simmons in the matchday 23 with the latter now in line to play his 100th Test.

David Pocock is set to start and captain the side against Georgia and Hooper’s late withdrawal means the flanker would have to wait until a Rugby World Cup semi-final to hit his own Test century.

Hooper and Coleman are expected to be fit for Australia’s quarter-final next week, all but certainly against England.

Forwards coach Simon Raiwalui played down any concerns over the fitness of the two.

“They’re just little niggles they’re nothing too major but with that confirmed we decided to go that way,” he said.

The Wallabies trained as normal a day out from their Friday night match against Georgia, amid unprecedented changes to the World Cup schedule with two matches cancelled due to the threat of Typhoon Hagibis.

Australia’s match won’t be affected Typhoon Hagibis, which is expected to hit Tokyo on Saturday, and at this stage, the team is planning to travel back to the capital on Saturday before flying to Oita ahead of their quarter-final against England.

Australia (revised): 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 Jordan Petaia, 13 James O’Connor, 12 Samu Kerevi, 11 Marika Koroibete, 10 Matt To’omua, 9 Nic White, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 David Pocock (c), 6 Jack Dempsey, 5 Rory Arnold, 4 Izack Rodda, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Jordan Uelese, 17 James Slipper, 18 Taniela Tupou, 19 Rob Simmons, 20 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 21 Will Genia, 22 Christian Lealiifano, 23 Dane Haylett-Petty

Date: Friday, October 11
Venue: Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa
Kick-off: 19:45 local (11:45 BST, 10:45 GMT)
Referee: Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant referees: Jérôme Garcès (France), Shuhei Kubo (Japan)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)

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