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CARDIFF - Australia first five-eighth Stephen Larkham is out of the World Cup until at least the quarterfinals after aggravating a knee injury, coach John Connolly said.
Larkham, who injured his knee while kicking during training on Friday, will miss the World Cup Pool B clash with Wales on Saturday as well as the group games with Fiji and Canada.
The 33-year-old, capped 102 times and playing in his third World Cup, will undergo an arthroscopy on his right knee within the next 48 hours.
Berrick Barnes, at 21 the youngest player in the Wallabies squad, will win his first test start in place of Larkham. Barnes scored two tries on his debut after replacing Larkham during the second half of Australia's 91-3 rout of Japan in their opening game.
"It appears as though Stephen has aggravated a previous injury but he'll get an (arthroscopy) within the next couple of days to determine the extent of it," said Connolly.
"If all goes well it's possible he could get back (in time) for the quarterfinals but it's hard to say at this stage."
Larkham is in his final year of international rugby and Connolly said his loss was a big blow to his side.
"Obviously we lose quite a lot of experience and the players around (Larkham) are so used to having him there," he said.
"But that said, Berrick (Barnes) did some really good things on his debut last week and has learned the structure and fits into the team very well. We're very confident he'll do the job for us."
- REUTERS
