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Powerful but injury-prone No.8 Wycliff Palu will miss the Waratahs’ Super Rugby “against the odds” clash with the Brumbies, possibly paving the way for the Timani brothers to start together.
Palu twisted his left ankle in last Friday’s win over Melbourne and turned up at training on Monday in a moon boot.
Waratahs coach Michael Cheika said he was waiting for Palu’s scan results, but the barnstorming back-rower would definitely miss Saturday’s Canberra Stadium clash.
“We’ll see how severe the turn is, whether there’s been a syndesmosis, we’ll just see how it pans out,” Cheika said on Monday.
“But I don’t think it’s a long long injury, I think it might be a few weeks max.”
Lopeti Timani, who has experience at No.8 and was the sole specialist back-rower among the Waratahs reserves in their first two games, looms as a likely replacement for Palu.
Brother and Test second-rower Sitaleki Timani has recovered from the corked thigh that forced him out of last week’s win over Melbourne.
Cheika said a fit Sitaleki would return this week and he had good back-row options to cover for Palu’s injury.
Openside flanker Pat McCutcheon is available again, though he hasn’t played for almost a year following an ankle injury.
In-form AJ Gilbert, who was scheduled to play No.8 for Waratahs A in their rained-out match against Fiji A last week, could be another contender for a spot in the match-day 22.
“I’m pretty happy with the (back row) guys I’ve got, they’ve been training really hard,” Cheika said
“They’ll be hungry to get an opportunity.
“Obviously it’s not great that Cliff is not playing, but I’m not too worried about it.”
Cheika was also confident Berrick Barnes would be fit after missing the first two games with a knee injury, but will make a decision on him after Tuesday’s training session.
The Brumbies are the early-season Australian Conference leaders and Cheika was happy to spruik the Waratahs’ underdog tag.
“It’s going to be up to us to fight against the odds and go down there and try and cause some trouble,” Cheika said.
“I imagine not many people have given us a chance, so as long as we believe in ourselves and give ourselves a bit of a chance you never know what could happen.”
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