Australia assistant coach Stephen Larkham has admitted that it will be difficult to replace flanker Michael Hooper in Saturday's Rugby World Cup Pool A decider against Wales.
Hooper has been suspended for a week by World Rugby after illegally charging into England full-back Mike Brown in the Wallabies' 33-13 win over hosts England.
"Michael has been tremendous so far, and in fact the games before the tournament he was the stand-out as well," Larkham told reporters. "It is hard to replace someone like that, but the guys are certainly ready to go."
Either Ben McCalman and Sean McMahon is likely to come in to replace Hooper, who accepted his punishment.
The winner of Saturday's match at Twickenham will top the group and likely face Scotland or Japan, avoiding South Africa, in the quarter-finals.
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Pascal Lemesre
