Queensland’s back-row woes have worsened ahead of Saturday night’s Australian derby against the Brumbies, with Wallabies forward Hugh McMeniman possibly ruled out for the rest of the Super 14 season.
The Reds fear the aggressive McMeniman may not return for the final two rounds after being ruled out of Saturday night’s clash at Suncorp Stadium with an ankle injury.
The 21-Test lock-cum-flanker limped off early in Thursday’s training session when his ankle collapsed on him when he tried to push off during unopposed running.
Queensland coach Phil Mooney was awaiting results from an MRI scan late on Thursday but admitted “it doesn’t look good” for the 25-year-old.
Even a three-week stint on the sidelines will also make it extremely tough for the off-contract McMeniman to be in the reckoning for an international start in June with Rocky Elsom expected to return from Ireland.
The injury-plagued McMeniman’s latest misfortune comes after the Reds this month lost New Zealand import Daniel Braid for the rest of the year with a ruptured Achilles.
The double blow leaves them vulnerable in the back row heading into a huge breakdown battle with the Brumbies who feature the best ball-pilferer in the business in George Smith.
McMeniman’s loss sees the rangy flanker Scott Higginbotham elevated from the bench in a sizeable loose-forward trio including Ezra Taylor and 110kg open-side Tasi Luafutu who will have their work cut out trying to beat Smith and Stephen Hoiles to the tackle contest.
Higginbotham was the form No.6 of the opening month of the competition but lost his place with the return of skipper and lock James Horwill combined with some costly defensive misses.
Queensland’s hopes of bolstering their back-row depth for the future have also been hit hard with Wallabies and Western Force No.8 Richard Brown set to remain in Perth.
The Reds are now looking both at home and overseas for a quality No.7 while Academy player Andrew Shaw, the 20-year-old son of Wallabies great Tony, is in the mix for a full contract.
In some welcome good news for Queensland, the former Wallabies prop Greg Holmes and his loose-head understudy Ben Daley both re-signed with two-year deals on Thursday.
Holmes, who played the last of his 13 Tests at the 2007 World Cup, hoped his new deal would quickly be followed by the signings of off-contract Wallabies quartet Horwill, McMeniman, Berrick Barnes and Digby Ioane.
“There’s a few more guys to sign so hopefully I can start that roll,” he said as the Reds look for their first back-to-back wins in three years.
Barnes, man of the match in the 31-24 upset of the Blues, ran at five-eighth for much of Thursday’s team session, with Quade Cooper at second-receiver.
Harry
Guest
Oh dear, right on schedule. A real shame, I thought this season he was finally putting some consistency together and would/could have been a regular Wallaby this year and put in a couiple of strong games as the Reds battle for respectability at the end of the S14. Now I read on the C-M site he's out for 6 months, so I suspect that may be the end of him - it is what, the 3rd season ending injury? One or two are OK, bt its fairly frequent. I guess this sort of sad situation isn't surprising and we have to expect quite a few falling by the wayside - get up close and watch the way the professional modern rugby players run into each other and the sheer brutal speed and physicality of the clashes, its not surpisting there are career ending injuries and broken bodies cutting short careers. It is massively more intense than the 80's thats for sure.