Frustrated Wallabies winger Peter Hynes fears his claims for a Tri-Nations recall may be short-circuited by a quirky club draw that’s leaving him short of match practice.

Hynes, the 23rd man for the 22-16 loss to the All Blacks in Auckland, is squarely back in the picture for a starting berth after Australia’s woes under the high ball on Saturday night.

Expert at defusing bombs, the 2008 Wallabies rookie of the year looms as a potential replacement for Drew Mitchell or Lachie Turner but has played less than one half of Test rugby and one other club game in the last three months.

After overcoming knee and facial injuries, Hynes’ hopes of winning back his Test wing position have hit a snag with his Queensland premier club side GPS having two byes in three weeks.

The 27-year-old attempted to solve the problem two weeks ago by asking for a one-off loan to Souths but the move was scuppered as GPS were concerned it gave their rivals a leg-up into the finals at their expense.

Test coach Robbie Deans will include Hynes and rookie halfback Will Genia among several players released for club duty this weekend but the winger is worried he will be left high and dry for a second time.

He wants to play with Souths as they boast some of his Queensland Reds teammates in their backline, helping to increase his level of involvement, but is worried others could again “kick up a stink”.

“It’s a tough one, it happened to me two weeks ago as well,” Hynes said. “It turned out to be a pretty big hassle.

“I don’t know if it can be done or will be done but two byes in three weeks is pretty uncommon, and it’s frustrating when they’re the two weeks you really want to play.

“Any momentum you might have built up has slipped away.”

Reds coach Phil Mooney was baffled why clubs have so many byes in a 10-team competition but threw his support behind Hynes gaining a one-match transfer.

“The irony is that for years clubs have been whingeing that they never get their representative players back,” Mooney said. “Now there’s a national coach who wants to release his players to club ranks but there’s no game for them to play.

“There’s a window of opportunity there for him in the Test team, especially with the All Blacks showing their hand (with high kicks) and the Springboks will be doing more of the same and that’s one of Peter’s strengths, high ball catching.”

The unlucky Hynes’ only Test involvement this year was in last month’s 31-12 win over Italy in Melbourne where he suffered a nasty ear laceration in the opening minute.

He didn’t rule out playing for a Sydney club if barred from playing in Brisbane, vowing to do all he could to put his hand up for the August 8 Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

“I’ll do everything I can to be there,” he said.

The Wallabies received some good news on Monday with centre Berrick Barnes (hip) cleared to play the Springboks.

Team medics will assess injured back-rower Richard Brown (ankle) when the squad reassembles in Sydney on Wednesday, while Rocky Elsom has been given next to no hope of travelling to South Africa.

© AAP 2012

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