Australian outside centre Stirling Mortlock is in considerable doubt for Saturday’s rugby union Test match against South Africa in Sydney because of a hamstring injury.
Australian coach Eddie Jones said on Sunday that Mortlock has less than a 50% chance of playing in the Mandela Cup match after straining his hamstring in Australia’s 37-31 win on Saturday over France in Brisbane.
Mortlock was forced from the pitch in the 30th minute and replaced by Morgan Turinui, who went on to score two second-half tries. Jones indicated Turinui was a ready-made replacement to wear the number 13 jersey if Mortlock failed to recover in time.
Captain George Gregan (lower back) and vice-captain Nathan Sharpe (cut hand) also suffered injuries in the free-flowing 10-try match but the Wallabies are confident the pair will recover to play the Springboks.
”At this stage we’d be optimistic [Gregan] would be right to play, likewise Sharpey,” Jones said.
Lock Sharpe set up a pivotal try to Wendell Sailor in the 52nd minute with a flick pass that sparked a three-try Australian blitz in 12 minutes for a 30-14 lead.
Sailor left his Brisbane and Queensland roots last month to sign with rival province New South Wales. He received some boos when his headshot flashed up on the Brisbane ground’s video screen before kickoff, but he received as many more cheers on Saturday with each broken tackle.
The big winger combined well with man-of-the-match Stephen Larkham midway through the second half to send Turinui over for the first of his tries.
Although the travel-weary and injury-hit French were not expected to challenge at the end of a long season, Jones wasn’t surprised by their display in a spectacular attack-at-all-costs contest.
”Every time we knocked them down they came back up,” he said.
Some members of French coach Bernard Laporte’s team were playing in their 45th match of the season on Saturday, and the French played two Tests in South Africa over the preceding two weekends.
Laporte said he was proud of his players, who went close to taking the lead with six minutes left when a quick penalty tap by stand-out skipper Jean-Baptiste Ellisalde almost exploited an overlap.
”Despite all the injuries and all sorts of things they never let up,” Laporte said. ”The Wallabies were the better team and wore us out.” – Sapa-AP