Wallabies fly-half Carter Gordon has succumbed to a quad complaint, ruled out of Sunday’s (AEDT) Test with France at Stade de France.
He is joined on the sidelines by Billy Pollard, who is out with a hip pointer issue.
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Incoming ACT Brumbies playmaker Tane Edmed and Reds hooker Matt Faessler will slot into the starting side as Hamish Stewart and Josh Nasser come onto the bench.
The issue has plagued Gordon’s return to the game, picking it up before their trip to Europe.
The new Reds signing played against Italy on his return; however, he tweaked the injury midway through the second half and has not featured since.
As for Pollard, he had been elevated to the starting side after coming off the bench last week against Ireland.
Coach Joe Schmidt had hoped Gordon would come through the final session but has turned to Edmed for the third time this end-of-year tour.
“I’m hopeful that Carter gets through [Friday’s] captain’s run,” he said yesterday. “We pulled him out a little bit early today because we’re trying to build him into the game.
“But I felt he trained really well, ran the team really well, kicked out of his hand well in the actual training session. So yeah, he’s an exciting prospect and we’ve got Tane to back him up.
“…When you’re coming back from an injury, I’ve seen enough players kind of, if it’s a hamstring, they’ll just put their hand on the back of their hamstring and it becomes almost a psychosomatic reaction.”
It came after James O’Connor returned to his English club after being released from the squad.
“It would have been great to keep James with us, but with Carter and Tane, and Hamish there to cover, it was an extra player that would have been a luxury,” Schmidt explained.
“…Even within our squad, when James first came in, it was really just to support the younger tens and to help them grow their own game. He was really useful in that regard and then stepped up and showed them how it was done as well.
“So having James in for that period of time was still really good for Carter and Tane, particularly to just have him in the opposition, giving them some feedback and then also when he ran the team last week, for them to see the manner in which he ran the team.”
