Ankle woe stymies McMahon
A CRUEL ankle injury to Sean McMahon has forced the Wallabies to grapple with the tricky No.8 puzzle again after he was grounded in Pretoria.
Lopeti Timani’s 125kg package of ball-running and heavy hitting is now vital for the Test against Argentina at Twickenham on Sunday morning.
The intrigue is whether the Wallabies will send an SOS to Leroy Houston to meet the team in London as squad backup when they fly in today.
Houston is in England playing with Bath, on a short-term loan deal from the Queensland Reds, but it would mean overlooking 49-Test backrower Ben McCalman in Australia.
Right-ankle ligament damage is the bad news for McMahon to add to the pain of yesterday’s 18-10 misfire against South Africa.
He had been delivering all the physical punch and energy he had promised as injured David Pocock’s replacement until hobbling of a tackle just before the 30-minute mark. He made a massive tackle to smash Springboks hooker Adriaan Strauss 5m from the tryline and added several strong carries.
McMahon even made 15m with a running limp to get to Strauss again in cover defence before handing over to Scott Fardy for the second half.
“It would have to be something pretty significant for him not to come back out,” coach Michael Cheika said.
“That’s two (lost) now in that spot (after Pocock’s broken hand) and what Sean was showing was very positive.”
McCalman was left behind for this trip to rebuild match fitness with Perth in the NRC after shoulder-blade trouble.