Beale out of summer tests

Australia's Kurtley Beale will miss the June Tests against Scotland and Wales because he requires shoulder surgery.
The full-back turned fly-half suffered the injury playing for the Melbourne Rebels against Wellington in a Super 15 match on Saturday.
Wallabies skipper James Horwill will miss the game against Scotland on 5 June because of a torn hamstring.
Quade Cooper, who suffered a knee injury at last year's World Cup, is included in the 38-man squad.
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“
James Horwill, we are presuming, is out for the whole of June but it is not as bad as it first looked. It looked pretty sinister at the time
”
Robbie Deans
Wallabies coach
The mercurial fly-half has played only twice for Queensland Reds since the semi-final against New Zealand.
Horwill's absence will force the Wallabies to name a new captain for the match against the Scots in Newcastle before the first of three Tests against Six Nations champions Wales.
The lock, who suffered his injury in Queensland Reds' win over ACT Brumbies on Saturday, met up with coach Robbie Deans' squad and had a scan on Monday.
"James, we are presuming, is out for the whole of June but it is not as bad as it first looked. It looked pretty sinister at the time," said Deans.
Scrum-half Will Genia and flanker David Pocock are the leading candidates to lead the Tri-Nations champions in Horwill's absence
With a final round of Super Rugby games to be played before the international break, Deans will name his team on Sunday for the Scotland Test.
Deans thanked the Australian clubs for their assistance in releasing players, before admitting that such a short turnaround from selection to the game against the Scots was not ideal.
"The co-operation of the franchises has been considerable and we appreciate that," said Deans.
Wales have named a 38-man training squad for the clash with the Barbarians on 2 June at the Millennium Satdium and for the three Tests against the Wallabies on 9, 16 and 23 June, in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney respectively.

That's a huge blow for Australia and now leaves them with a few problems at FH. Whilst I want to see the best players playing it is a huge boost to Wales heading down under now. We have lost Roberts and now they have lost a key talisman also so i'm far more confident of winning at least one test in Oz now.

This is exactly what I was commenting on several weeks ago. The two ace Wallaby backs both playing for lowly rated sxv sides are now out through injury. In all likeliness both trying to take on too much against stronger opposition.

Well now they've reaped what they sowed and with Beale out, in my opinion the best back in world rugby this year is now out and Wales chances just went up a notch.

Plain dumb.

Yeah, missing Beale and O'Conner is two players they will sorely miss.

Both are very good footballers with multi skills.

Horwill hyper extended his knee on the weekend if I remember correctly?

Shame, while it increases Wales' chances I would have preferred to see both of them playing.

But at the end of the day I would take a win out in Oz regardless of who is playing, they will still have a strong side.

Massive blow to Aus as in current form Beale was looking sensational.

Its just they cant afford to put two of their smaller yet more talented players in teams that will be defending most of the time all in the cause of spreading the game?

And with oz rugby already struggling big time with depth they place their two most potent attackers in largely defensive roles?

Im sure Deans was smarter than that to allow that sort of thing happen.

Dunno. The thinking that goes on...

biltongbek wrote:Yeah, missing Beale and O'Conner is two players they will sorely miss.

Both are very good footballers with multi skills.

Horwill hyper extended his knee on the weekend if I remember correctly?

More of a mild tear of his hamstring, BB. Apparently he had a skin graft taken from the same area and they believe it may be related to that.

Thanks LB

Real shame for him. Great player and brilliant to watch. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Great loss as Beale at flyhalf was looking a distinct possibility and that frankly was a mouth-watering prospect from a neutral's perspective. Who will be fullback was also going to be an interesting one as well as AAC fits best at OC because Australia need a backline general there. At fullback he doesn't have an impact particularly on defence.

But now with JOC out as well and probably Barnes or Cooper now sharing the flyhalf role what will happen in the backline shuffle? My prediction is a big mess and an out of synch Aussie backline which is a shame for all except Wales as that Aussie backline on song is a joy to behold in world rugby. EVen against the ABs...

Yeah agree kia. Beale and joc out is huge. Ve always said injuries to one or more of the star 5 or 6 players will hurt oz. Wales will make it a priority to target the inside backs making it essential that genia barnes and cooper step up big time. Interesting days ahead...

Any chance of Deans recalling Giteau? Still only 29, vast experience and could surely help out whilst Beale & O'Connor recover

Agree with Taylorman. The huge amount of defending that the backs at the Rebs have to do coupled with little to no support from their pack can not help in any way.

Much like Wilkinsons continual injuries covering everything for a poor Newcastle team.

Beale is a massive loss and i'm gutted as he was looking odds on for the starting 10 role.

A bit of good news now.

KB's shoulder not as bad as first thought, he won't need an operation and could be back in a few weeks.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/good-news-for-wallabies-beale-may-play-against-wales-20120529-1zgno.html

great news, that changes the dynamics quite a bit

He may be back on the bench for Saturday's match now.

Good news LB