Wallabies scrumhalf Tate McDermott will miss this weekend’s Rugby Championship finale against New Zealand in Perth and almost certainly Australia’s end-of-season tour after suffering a serious hamstring injury.
Rugby Australia said that the injury McDermott suffered early in last week’s 33-24 loss to the All Blacks in Auckland would require surgery and “an extended period of time on the sidelines throughout his recovery.”
Jake Gordon is expected to be fit after his own hamstring issue to replace McDermott in Saturday’s return match against New Zealand with Ryan Lonergan looking set to win his second cap off the bench.
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Tate McDermott is injured. Stan
Nic White, who put off his retirement to help the Wallabies cope with the absence of Gordon earlier in the Rugby Championship, will help the squad prepare for the match.
Australia could win a first Rugby Championship title in a decade with a bonus point victory over the All Blacks on Saturday, but only if Argentina beat world champions South Africa in London.
The Wallabies face Japan, England, Italy, Ireland and France on their end-of-season tour in late October and November.
While McDermott is a big loss, Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has been boosted by the availability of key forwards Will Skelton and Rob Valetini.
Skelton has flown to Perth from his La Rochelle club in France.
“I love being in this environment,” Skelton said.
Will Skelton of the Wallabies runs with the ball. Getty
“I’m thankful that not much has changed in four weeks, in terms of game plan, in terms of structures I’ve been training the whole time at La Rochelle, so I feel pretty fit.
“You see it just at training, how hard we compete, how hard training is. We try and get the best out of each other. We’re all pretty close, we’re all pretty tight in the group, we’re connected, and you can see that on the weekend.
“We didn’t get the result, but we fought as hard as we could to bring that game back.”
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Skelton was unsure whether or not he would start after Nick Frost and Lukhan Salakia-Loto formed the second row at Eden Park and Jeremy Williams came off the bench.
“You talk about depth, we’ve got guys in every position. You take out Bobby (Valetini), you’ve got Hoops (Tom Hooper),” he said.
“Lukhan doesn’t play, (Josh) Canham can jump straight in. Nick Frost, Jeremy Williams have been playing great footy.
“It’s another opportunity for myself to come in and try and add to the squad, not just be a part of it. Try and be better, bring intensity, bring physicality.
“That’s what the squad needs, and that’s what we’ve had the last few weeks.
“The more opportunities you get to play, the more you want to play. It’s a privilege to be named in squads, it’s a privilege to be around this team, to wear the gold jersey. It’s something that all the players in this group love doing, myself included.”