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Still sidelined Australia's Larkham fails fitness test
Posted: Tuesday July 27, 1999 10:17 AM
CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- Australian fly-half Steve Larkham failed a fitness test on his injured left knee on Tuesday, putting his long-awaited comeback to the rugby field back by at at least another week. Australian officials would have been praying for some good news after the Wallabies' disastrous 34-15 defeat by New Zealand last Saturday in which makeshift fly-half Tim Horan was left exposed by the fierce All Black pressure. Larkham had hoped to resume in Canberra club rugby this weekend after almost four months out following knee surgery. The 25-year-old was put through his paces by Australian team medico Dr David Hughes, who found Larkham's left knee was not yet ready to be tested in a game. "He just wants to give it another week to settle down a little bit more," Larkham told reporters. "Stepping off my left foot still causes a bit of pain." Larkham has been out of rugby since seriously damaging medial ligaments playing for the ACT Brumbies in a Super 12 match against the Canterbury Crusaders in early April. He has now twice postponed comebacks in club rugby on the advice of Wallaby coaching and medical staff, who have urged Larkham against rushing his return. Larkham will spend three days with the Wallabies next week at their training base at Caloundra in Queensland before possibly getting on the field for Canberra Wests against Tuggeranong on Saturday week.
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