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Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie was at Suncorp on Saturday to witness firsthand the shoulder injury to his first-choice No. 10 Quade Cooper.
Early reports were that Cooper dislocated his AC joint, an injury that can take four to six weeks to heal.
The Wallabies fly-half could miss the entire series against France, with the three internationals on successive Saturdays – June 7 at Suncorp, June 14 at Etihad, and June 21 at Allianz.
If Cooper’s out for the series, McKenzie has a long list of alternatives, starting with Brumby Matt Toomua, two Waratahs in Brendan Foley and Kurtley Beale, and two outsiders in the Brumbies’ Christian Lealiifano and the Force’s Kyle Godwin.
The latter may seem a left-field selection, but Godwin was a No. 10 before he became a force with the Force at 12.
While it’s handy for McKenzie to have so many replacement options, losing Cooper will be a blow to the combinations that finished last year with four successive wins on the spring tour of the northern hemisphere.
The pecking order to replace Cooper would be Toomua, Foley, Lealiifano, Godwin, then Beale, who has played so brilliantly at 12 this season in linking with Israel Folau. Why waste him at 10 and inhibit that exciting combination?.
To compound McKenzie’s worries Rebels half-back Luke Burgess, a possible bench scrum-half and playing his best game in years, was assisted from Suncorp Stadium with a painful knee or ankle injury.
McKenzie was obviously nervous even before the Reds-Rebels game kicked off. Normally he is a very measured man – his words are carefully chosen and he is never flustered, as he proved when his early days as Wallabies coach were littered with defeats.
Bur he was far from measured in his pre-game interview with Nick McArdle and Tim Horan on Fox last night. He was clearly not himself, his answers were jerky and he spoke very quickly.
That’s not Ewen McKenzie.
He carefully side-stepped the burning question of how he was going to treat three front-line candidates for Wallabies selection in captain Ben Mowen, Kane Douglas and Hugh Pyle, who are all heading overseas at season’s end and won’t be available for the Rugby World Cup.
Will McKenzie pick them against France, the Bledisloe Cup, and the Rugby Championship? All three deserve to be there.
“I’m always looking to move forward,” McKenzie’s answered, which didn’t shed any light on his selection process or preference.
But there were other factors this weekend that will cause the coach far bigger headaches.
The Reds have won just one game in their last eight. Last night they were beaten by the Rebels for the first time in history, making many elementary errors. They are at the bottom of the Australian Conference, and deservedly so.
Suncorp used to be their fortress, but not any more. Big guns such as James Horwill, Will Genia and Rob Simmons aren’t firing. Maybe that’s a valid reason for Ewen McKenzie to be edgy.
The Wallabies squad for the series against the French will be named next Thursday. Don’t be surprised if a number of usually first-choice selections are missing, most of them from Queensland.
Both the Brumbies and Force also did a Reds this weekend, making a mountain of fundamental errors, missing far too many tackles, and turning over too much possession. The Cheetahs accounted for the Brumbies 27-21, while the Stormers defeated the Force 24-8.
At least the Waratahs’ big victory over the Lions on Sunday will give McKenzie some cause to relax.