More injury woes for the Wallabies at Rugby World Cup

Although Australia have completed all their Pool C matches at this year’s Rugby World Cup, they are likely to be without the services of Carter Gordon and Nick Frost if they reach the quarter-finals.

While Australia don’t know if they will be involved in the World Cup play-offs, with their quarter-final hopes depending on Fiji’s next result in their last pool match against Portugal, Wallabies head coach Eddie Jones said the duo, who both sustained knee injuries, were unlikely to take any further part in the global showpiece in France.

Forward duo set to return to action

But Jones said that if Australia do advance to face Pool D winners England in their quarter-final in Marseille on Sunday, October 15, captain and lock Will Skelton and front-row Taniela Tupou should be available.

Frost was replaced a minute into the second half of the Wallabies’ 34-14 victory over Portugal in Saint-Etienne after injuring his knee late in the opening period.

Gordon sustained his injury at training and was ruled out just before Sunday’s game, with Samu Kerevi coming into the matchday squad to replace him on the bench.

“It’s unlikely that Nick and Carter will take any more part in the tournament,” Jones told reporters.

“Conversely, we’ve got Taniela and Will, and if we have another game they will be ready to go.”

Jones said he didn’t think Gordon would need surgery while Frost would undergo scans.

“(The knee injury) happened when he was warming up on Thursday, but it was only an irritation and since then we had a scan and it looked more serious than we thought,” he said of Gordon.

Jones took a gamble by picking just one specialist fly-half in Gordon in his 33-man World Cup squad, overlooking veteran playmakers Quade Cooper and Bernard Foley.

However he started utility back Ben Donaldson at fly-half against Wales and Portugal following a poor showing by Gordon in the team’s defeat to Fiji.

Could call in injury cover

If they reach the quarter-finals, Jones could call in injury cover, while the Wallabies still haven’t replaced young utility back Max Jorgensen, who fractured his leg at training last week.

“We have players training in different positions and particularly since the advent of HIA (head injury assessments) you’ve got to become a lot more flexible,” said Jones.

“We’ll just make a judgment later in the week about what we do there.”

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