Bad luck puts Wallaby in doubt

Backrower Scott Higginbotham’s bad luck in South Africa has continued with injury putting his place in the Wallabies line-up for Saturday’s Test in doubt.

Higginbotham, who has been named on the bench to face the Springboks at Loftus Versfeld, injured his back when skipper Nathan Sharpe landed on him during a training drill.

The Queenslander was forced to sit out the final 25 minutes.

Higginbotham, who offers Australia some vital aggression, will be given until their final training session before a decision is made on whether he will play.

A Wallaby spokesman said his back had improved as the day wore on and he was very hopeful of playing.

Just two years ago, Higginbotham was devastated when he was forced to pull out of his planned Test debut in Pretoria when he pulled up sore with back spasms in the warm-up.

And earlier this week he was laid low after being hit by a gastro bug that affected six players.

Should Higginbotham be ruled out the Wallabies may have to switch their bench split because lock Sitaleki Timani has already been ruled out of contention due to his hamstring injury.

They may switch from a 5-2 split of forwards and backs on the bench to a 4-3 split and include another back like Mike Harris or Ben Tapuai.

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