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The Wallabies are at least well served at loosehead where the experienced James Slipper will vie with rising star Angus Bell for a start.<\/p>\n
But it is still another unwanted injury blow ahead of the series which is scheduled to kick off on July 7 in Brisbane, the first of three matches in 11 days.<\/p>\n
First choice halfback Nic White is already out with a knee injury<\/a> while Wallabies coach Dave Rennie is still sweating on the fitness of halves James O'Connor, Matt To'omua and Jake Gordon.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> COVID forces first Test to Brisbane<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Misguided move 'rips off' rugby fans<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Wallabies cop major injury blow<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n O'Connor was the frontrunner to start at 10 before his neck injury, with Noah Lolesio and Reece Hodge instead running at five-eighth at training.<\/p>\n "I'm not sure where he is at, to be honest," Wallabies halfback Tate McDermott said of O'Connor.<\/p>\n "He's always in the background somewhere talking to boys like Lenny (Ikitau) and Hunter (Paisami).<\/p>\n "He's definitely been around a lot and he was running the other day."<\/p>\n The opening Test was relocated from Sydney after the city went into a two week lockdown on the weekend following a surge of COVID-19 cases.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Brisbane, now scheduled to host the first and Third tests, was going into its own three day lockdown on Tuesday.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Fans](\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/06\/364197\/pickerImage.jpg\")
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