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MONTPELLIER - Australia may have to send for more reinforcements after utility back Scott Staniforth was injured in Sunday's 55-12 rugby World Cup win over Fiji.
The Wallabies scored seven tries to book themselves a place in the quarterfinals against England or Tonga but could lose Staniforth for the rest of the tournament after he injured his shoulder.
Australia have already been hard hit with injuries to their backline with Mark Gerrard sent home after hurting his knee in the first game against Japan and captain Stirling Mortlock and first five-eighth Stephen Larkham both recovering from problems.
First five-eighth Berrick Barnes also suffered a corked leg while reserve scrumhalf Sam Cordingley banged his knee against the Fijians but coach John Connolly said his major concern was with Staniforth, who left the field just moments after coming on in the second half.
"We'll have a chat tonight about a standby player while he gets some scans and maybe tomorrow we'll have a clearer picture," Connolly said.
Australia earned a bonus point for the third match in a row to ensure they would finish top of pool B and avoid South Africa in the quarterfinals.
Connolly admitted his team had not played at their best against Fiji but was reluctant to criticise them after posting such a big winning margin.
"I guess we're happy with the result. If anyone had offered us this three or four weeks ago, we'd have taken it," he said.
"We're not overly happy with the way we played but there's a certain amount of satisfaction that we scored 50-odd points, we're number one and we know where we're headed now.
"The positives are that we finished number one. We played some very good rugby but we were very loose in some other sections and that's a concern for us."
Connolly also dismissed concerns about Australia's defence, which leaked two tries for the second week in a row, saying they were a result of having already wrapped up the game.
"We can fix that up at training. We're very confident with our defence, it's not a problem," he said.
"You have to give credit to Fiji. We were loose but we scored 55 points and now we can focus on the quarter-final.
"A lot more positives came out of this game than negatives as far as we're concerned. We're happy to get the win and move on."
- REUTERS
