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Connolly confident on Giteau, Larkham
May 28, 2007 - 6:36pm
Story by: Sportal
Australia's initial fears of being without halves combination Matt Giteau and Stephen Larkham for this weekend's follow-up meeting with Wales in Brisbane have subsided following a scare in the team's Monday afternoon training session.
Giteau tweaked his medial ligament during the warm-up and sat out the 90-minute session at Ballymore with former captain George Gregan deputising at half-back throughout.
But Wallabies coach John Connolly played down the seriousness of the injury to the 24-year-old Western Force star and insisted the medical staff were simply being cautious.
"He's just a bit sore after playing Saturday night," said Connolly after the close of the session. "He'll be OK."
"It's very low grade and it's just precautionary."
Indeed Giteau was up and about as the squad warmed down with Connolly confirming he would train in full tomorrow - probably at both inside centre and scrum-half.
"He could nearly have trained today," Connolly added.
Larkham described his first run since suffering a hamstring strain during training last Wednesday as 'very promising' with two more sessions before the side to face the Welsh is named on Wednesday.
"I got through about 30 minutes of work with the team and didn’t feel it at any stage," Larkham said.
"The doctor was happy with that and tomorrow we will progress it a little bit more."
Meanwhile, on Larkham's replacement in the No.10 jumper last weekend, Connolly added: "It was very tough for Sam Norton-Knight. He's come in at a moment's notice to play in a position where he's only played the last three games for the Waratahs."
"If he (Larkham) is right I think we'll pick him," he smiled.
But Larkham remained pragmatic and warned against hurrying back too quickly in a World Cup year.
"There's still no need to push things at this stage of the season," he said. "The goal is the World Cup at the end of the year."
"I'd certainly like to have a little bit of form under my belt before the World Cup came around."
"Getting an injury which kept me out for four to six weeks would be quite devastating."
"We're just going to manage it and make sure that there are no risks, particularly this early."
He even hinted that a rotation policy might be in place including the possibility of being rested for the Tri-Nations games against the Springboks and All Blacks in late June and early July.
"Potentially I was only going to play the first one-and-a-half games anyway and then have a rest against Fiji," he said.
"I've had my rest now against Wales and we'll have to reassess what the plan is."
Marc Fox