Will Genia’s June Series is over, and his Super Rugby season looks in doubt, after suffering a broken arm against Ireland in Melbourne.
Genia went off in the 27th minute with the injury, which he sustained after running a decoy line in a lineout two minutes earlier.
The scrumhalf will go into surgery on Sunday, with Wallabies coach Michael Cheika saying he would likely return for August’s Rugby Championship.
"Will Genia's broken his arm, so he'll be going for surgery tomorrow,” he said.
Wallabies lock Adam Coleman is also under a cloud, with the second rower sporting a massive bulge on the side of his face after coming off in the 43rd minute, needing a scan to clear him for travel on Sunday.
“Coleman has got a very nice golf ball on the side of his face, so we'll get him off for some scans and check to see,” Cheika said.
“We have to that pretty soon, because sometimes if that's a cheekbone or eye socket or something he can't fly, so we'll just have to check and see where he's at.”
Whether the Genia incident costs Ireland one of its players is yet to be seen, with the 30-year-old seemingly hit off the ball.
Though Genia ran out of the broadcast shot when he suffered the injury, Wallabies coach Michael Cheika said he was hit when he was running that line, without the ball.
Prop Cian Healy is believed to be the player in question, and though Australia has not put the incident forward for citing, it might yet be reviewed by the independent citing commissioner, New Zealand's Michael O'Leary.
“We ran the play down the front and Willy's the decoy around the back and he got king hit from the side, looked like a shoulder, right, and when you're not expecting that's what happens,” he said.
“Hoops went down the front, Willy went around the back, I'm not sure who it was from the other team, came in and hit him and jammed his arm and broke it.
Nick Phipps is all but assured of starting in Genia’s place, after a good shift in his place for the final 50 minutes on Saturday, earning the praise of Ireland coach Joe Schmidt for a particularly strong defensive effort.
“I thought Nick Phipps' tackle on Keith Earls was an absolute try-saver, I think it's a Nick Phipps special really,” he said.
“He works so hard in the line, he's a very good cover defender and he did a great job.”
Cheika said Phipps and the rest of the replacements brought something to the game, but lamented a lack of collective effort.
“Nick's obviously an experienced campaigner, he's part of our leadership, so he's a guy who drives that crew of finishers when they come on,” he said.
“I thought all our finishers came on and brought something definitely, the guys that came on at half-time and then all the way through.
“I think he played well and they brought that but it was again maybe in the individual as opposed to in the collective and footy is a game of the collective.”
A high penalty count, a lack of possession and a patchy kicking outing left Cheika frustrated, after Ireland forced a deciding Test.
“You always want to be 2-0 up. I don’t know if we played good enough to go 2-0 up today,” he said.
“I know we scored three tries to two but I just think we need to trust our system a little bit better.
“We went for some 50/50s, gave away some soft penalties, gave away too many penalties full stop.
“(Next week, we'll) just ground ourselves and say ,'Let's just do what we do and the rest will turn up right', because when we do do it, it's pretty good, whether it's on defence or on attack.”
The Wallabies take on Ireland in the third Test in Sydney, kicking off at 8:05pm AEST, LIVE on FOX SPORTS, Channel Ten and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO.
