News

At the beginning of the season James Horwill was the incumbent Wallabies captain, but was not available due to his hamstring injury for Australia’s first test of the year against Scotland, leading to David Pocock to be named as new skipper.

The inspirational flanker was then ruled out with a knee injury, and now Genia will join the two forwards in the casualty ward – ruled out for the remainder of The Investec Rugby Championship.

Melbourne Rebels number nine Nick Phipps is likely to start for the Wallabies, while Western Force halfback Brett Sheehan has been called up to the squad with immediate effect.

While coach Robbie Deans said it was a massive loss, he said it was up to the team to cover the absence of a player many would rate as the best halfback in the game.

"Will Genia is not there and Will Genia is a special player, there's no doubt,” he said.

"But as we've seen in recent times it's a team game and no one can do it by themselves and the group that combines effectively is more dangerous than one man."

Deans decided that humour was the best approach to a situation that is likely to see him hand the captaincy reins to veteran lock Nathan Sharpe.

“I don't think we'll have a formal leader anymore,” he said.

“Every person we've given the title to has broken so we might just have someone lead the group out the tunnel and we might have a meeting with a few good men on Monday morning to discuss the week.”

The remainder of the squad news is mixed.

Lock Sitaleki Timani, who put in a man-of-the-match performance against the Springboks that led to some commentators saying the Wallabies had uncovered a new front line lock, is in doubt for the Argentineans in the Gold Coast.

Timani suffered a hamstring injury, but his potential absence will be offset by the news that Pat McCabe and James O’Connor are on the verge of being available for selection.