Larkham injury scare for Wallabies

Australia's preparations for the crunch World Cup game against Wales in the Millennium Stadium have suffered a potentially major setback with the news that Stephen Larkham has aggravated an old knee injury.

Larkham is rated as having a "50-50" chance of playing and faces a fitness test at 8am tomorrow morning.

The 33-year-old felt his right knee lock as he practised restarts at the Welsh Institute of Sport and was immediately taken to hospital for scans.

Head coach John Connolly said: "Stephen aggravated a knee injury this afternoon in training. He had scans which indicate it was an aggravation, no more than that.

"He will have a run tomorrow morning and we will make a decision after that whether he plays. At this stage it is probably 50-50 but it has settled down well.

"This close to the game you always fear the worst. It did lock up on him but it has freed up now."

If Larkham is ruled out, head coach John Connolly indicated Queensland Reds rookie Berrick Barnes, who only made his Test debut last week, could be given his first Wallabies start.

"We have a couple of decisions. We could run with Stephen depending on how it is, we could substitute Berrick Barnes straight in or put Berrick on the bench," said Connolly.

"Three or four weeks ago, Matt Giteau was the back-up 10 and still may be long term but he hasn't trained there all week and has trained well at 12.

"Berrick has trained with Stephen all week and we were happy with what he did last week."

Barnes's Test debut came off the bench in the Wallabies' 91-3 win over Japan but Connolly insists he would have no qualms throwing the 22-year-old into the cauldron.

"We are prepared for those things," said Connolly.

It would be a major boost for Wales coach Gareth Jenkins if Australia did have to go in without Larkham.

The Wallabies have struggled against Wales over the last two years when they have not had Larkham pulling the strings at outhalf. He did not feature in Australia's 24-22 defeat to Wales in 2005 and last November played an hour at inside centre in the 29-29 draw.

Larkham was also absent for the first Test this summer, when Wales came within seconds of winning in Sydney, but he returned for the second Test in Brisbane - and Australia stormed to a comprehensive 31-0 victory.

Wales assistant coach Neil Jenkins agreed Larkham is vital to a successful Australia side — but he warned the Wallabies have other threats.

"He has been an incredible rugby player. He started off at fullback and was a great player then. Making breaks and gliding through people, he just made the game look so easy. He does the same at outside-half," said Jenkins, the leading points-scorer in Test history.