UNITED KINGDOM: RUGBY UNION - Australian flyhalf Stephen Larkham rated 50-50 to start their World Cup Pool B clash with Wales after aggravating a knee injury in training

Australia flyhalf Stephen Larkham is rated 50-50 to start the World Cup Pool B clash with Wales on Saturday after aggravating a knee injury in training. Australia flyhalf Stephen Larkham is rated 50-50 to start the World Cup Pool B clash with Wales on Saturday (September 14) after aggravating a knee injury in training. Larkham, capped 102 times and playing in his third World Cup, will have an early fitness test on Saturday after his right knee locked up on Friday. He had scans and was "probably 50-50" to play, said head coach John Connolly. Larkham is in his final year of international rugby and has been an automatic selection for Australia for the past decade. If he is not passed fit Berrick Barnes, at 21 the youngest player in the Wallabies squad, will win his first test start. Australia earlier vowed not to show any mercy against their struggling Welsh opponents. The Wallabies are favourites to win after opening their World Cup campaign with a 91-3 thrashing of Japan, while Wales struggled to beat Canada 42-17. Both sides are expected to qualify for the quarter-finals regardless of who wins on Saturday, but are equally determined to lay down a marker for the rest of the tournament. Australia won their second World Cup at the Millennium stadium in 1999, but their most recent visits to Cardiff have been less successful. The Australian forwards were lambasted by the media after their ill-fated European tour in 2005, which led to the sacking of former coach Eddie Jones and they could only manage a draw there last year. Captain Stirling Mortlock said during training in Cardiff on Friday: "We've found it extremely difficult to play Wales here recently. But that I think has also reinforced the need to prepare well. And we've done that. We've done all the work now. It's all about mentally getting it right so that two p.m. tomorrow afternoon we go out and play as well as we can." The forwards have improved enormously since the appointment of head coach John Connolly and his assistant Michael Foley and the pair have signalled their intention of taking the Welsh on up front by beefing up their pack. Connolly recalled tighthead prop Guy Shepherdson for Al Baxter and added flanker Phil Waugh and lock Mark Chisholm to the reserves bench from the side that piled on 13 tries against the Japanese. Drew Mitchell replaced the injured Adam Ashley-Cooper on the left wing in the only change to the backline while Scott Staniforth joined the replacements after the injured Mark Gerrard was sent home. Mortlock said on Friday: "We are doing everything in our power to make sure we get the mix right, enjoy off the field and when it is time to switch on the rugby, really be productive out on the paddock (pitch)." Wales have also tinkered with their line-up after struggling to overcome Canada, recalling captain Gareth Thomas, flyhalf Stephen Jones and backrower Colin Charvis.

ITN Source | September 15, 2007

Tags:. .replacements. .replaced. .draw. .difficult. .determined