A resurrected Berrick Barnes is ready to pilot Australia on their upcoming northern tour with besieged playmaker Quade Cooper one of four front-line Wallabies ruled out.
Cooper, facing a likely knee reconstruction, centre Pat McCabe (shoulder), lock Dan Vickerman (shoulder) and France-bound halfback Luke Burgess will all miss the two-match tour to the United Kingdom in a month’s time.
Wallabies coach Robbie Deans will announce his 26-man tour party in early November and is also expected to be without fullback Kurtley Beale, who again strained his hamstring in the Rugby World Cup bronze final against Wales.
Beale will have scans in Sydney after returning home on Saturday afternoon but is considered unlikely to tour for clashes with the Barbarians (November 26) and Wales (December 3).
Prop Sekope Kepu (eye) is also in doubt but there is optimism 100-Test lock Nathan Sharpe will be available after injuring his knee in the opening minutes of the 21-18 victory in the third-place play-off on Friday night.
Sharpe battled on until just after halftime but both Cooper and Beale were off the park midway through the first half, prompting a major backline reshuffle which pitched inside centre Barnes into five-eighth.
Barnes’ man-of-the-match display, featuring precise kicking and ball-playing, capped his remarkable return from a self-imposed mid-season break with footballers migraine and increased the question mark over Deans’ decision to overlook him for the semi-final loss to New Zealand.
Former British and Irish Lions flyhalf Stuart Barnes called it “a major blunder”, especially after he combined so well with Cooper for the Wallabies’ backline to click into gear before the No.10’s shattering 22nd-minute injury.
Wallabies great David Campese went further to say Barnes should have been the main man long before that.
Deans had no hesitation in praising the 25-year-old and indicated the chief playmaking role could be his next month.
“He’s stepped into that role and managed a result, so he’ll gain a lot of confidence out of that as well,” the coach said.
Barnes admitted it was a “bitter-sweet” end to the tournament after watching the besieged Cooper go down following a vibrant start where the Wallabies finally had a crack and played an expansive, running game.
“It’s not the way you want to end a tournament that’s for sure and tonight you were going to see him at his best, and early on you definitely got a feeling of that,” said Barnes, who has the ability to provide a more structured game.
“I don’t possess the skill he has, I can’t create something out of nothing like he can, and he’s a freak at doing it, but I can try and play field position and bring us down there.
“If that offer presented itself (in the UK) I’d step up and have a crack.”
Barnes admitted he exceeded his own expectations in his return from his concussion issues and was also relieved the Wallabies could end their deflating, conservative Cup campaign on a high with a gutsy win.
“We wanted to play some footy,” he said.
“We just didn’t want to leave these shores without playing some footy.”
Cooper is set to have scans in the next 24 hours which are expected to confirm he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament, sidelining him for six to nine months.
The loss of back-up No.9 Burgess to Toulouse should see Nick Phipps, hardly sighted in the World Cup, step up on the bench while it could also open the door for Queensland utility Ben Lucas to tour as a third halfback.
Centre Rob Horne should also get more starting opportunities with McCabe absent while Reds midfielder Ben Tapuai could get a call-up.
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