Series hopes knocked as Larkham and Giffin ruled out

SYDNEY - Australia's hopes of completing their first series win over the Lions suffered a major setback yesterday when first five-eighths Stephen Larkham and lock David Giffin were ruled out of tomorrow's deciding third test.

Larkham succumbed to a nerve problem in his shoulder - an injury he suffered in last weekend's Australian test win in Melbourne - while Giffin strained a hamstring in training.

Larkham was hurt in the opening minutes when he collided with robust Irish centre Brian O'Driscoll.

He played on, but by the next day had lost most of the movement in his right arm.

He had hoped the nerve would suddenly heal so he could play tomorrow, but conceded it was too late.

"It's very hard to comprehend why the muscle is not working.

"There's just no signal coming from the nerve into the muscle, so it's quite frustrating," he said.

Wallaby coach Rod Macqueen had planned to give his main playmaker until this afternoon to prove his fitness, but ruled him out yesterday when it became obvious there had been no improvement.

Elton Flatley was named as the new first five-eighths after coming on as a replacement for Larkham in the first two tests of the series.

Flatley made his test debut at the age of 20 on the 1997 end-of-season tour to England and was billed as a star in the making, but has made only four appearances since, three as replacements.

He probably would have played more if not for the enormous impact Larkham has had on Australian rugby, and Macqueen said he had every faith in him to perform against the Lions.

"He is a great player, he is a player of the future and I think he will do a good job," Macqueen said.

With Flatley promoted to the starting team, experienced Brumbies centre James Holbeck was named as the new replacement back in the only change to the reserves.

The second change in the starting team was Giffin.

He was already in doubt after injuring his shoulder in last weekend's match, but when the shoulder improved, he went and strained a hamstring at practice on Wednesday.

"We thought he would be okay, but [it was] diagnosed last night as something that's not going to recover by the weekend, so we've actually had to make a very quick decision there," Macqueen said.

Giffin was replaced by his Brumbies lock partner Justin Harrison, the tallest player in Australian rugby at 2.03m.

Harrison, aged 27, is the only uncapped player in the squad, but has been knocking on the selectors' door for some time.

He had a storming game in Australia A's win over the Lions last month and was equally impressive in the Brumbies' two-point loss to the Lions 10 days ago.

Australia have never beaten the Lions in a series, but they came desperately close when the two teams last played each other, in 1989, losing the deciding third test by one point.

Australia: Matthew Burke, Andrew Walker, Daniel Herbert, Nathan Grey, Joe Roff, Elton Flatley, George Gregan, Toutai Kefu, George Smith, Owen Finegan, John Eales (captain), Justin Harrison, Rod Moore, Michael Foley, Nick Stiles. Reserves: Brendan Cannon, Ben Darwin, Matt Cockbain, David Lyons, Chris Whitaker, James Holbeck, Chris Latham.

Lions: Matt Perry, Austin Healey, Brian O'Driscoll, Rob Henderson, Jason Robinson, Jonny Wilkinson, Matt Dawson, Scott Quinnell, Neil Back, Martin Corry, Danny Grewcock, Martin Johnson (captain), Phil Vickery, Keith Wood, Tom Smith. Reserves: Darren Morris, Dorian West, Colin Charvis, Martyn Williams, Ronan O'Gara, Will Greenwood, Iain Balshaw.

Referee: Paddy O'Brien (New Zealand).

- REUTERS