Health scare

Wallabies threatened by chicken pox outbreak

COFFS HARBOUR, Australia (AP) -- Backrower Matt Cockbain has been sent home from the Australian rugby union training camp after suffering chicken pox, prompting concerns that other Wallabies may pick up the illness.

Wallabies team doctor Michael Jamieson was kept busy Monday questioning players about their medical histories, with many forced to phone their parents for advice.

Fellow veteran backrower Owen Finegan and forwards coach Ewen McKenzie appeared to be the only players who hadn't previously suffered a bout of the highly contagious disease and were given inoculation injections.

There was mixed news for the Wallabies' other injury and illness concerns ahead of their Bledisloe Cup showdown with unbeaten New Zealand in Auckland on Saturday.

Key forward Toutai Kefu, who was last week cleared by a neurologist after suffering a spinal concussion in Australia's last Tri-Nations match against South Africa, was unable to complete training after suffering some calf tightness early in the session.

Prop Patricio Noriega suffered a slight groin strain which restricted his training, while winger Wendell Sailor, who had the flu, completed both sessions Monday.

Cockbain arrived at the Coffs Harbour base on Saturday after playing club rugby in Brisbane on Friday night. He completed training, which involved contact work, that day.

But when his headache and slight fever, which he first felt last Wednesday, continued, he consulted team doctors.

The spots that arrived on Sunday confirmed the 30-year-old Cockbain's worst fears.

"I don't feel too bad but obviously with it being contagious I can't spend time with the team that I would have liked to," Cockbain said. "Hopefully I haven't infected anyone."

Called into the expanded squad after Kefu's injury, he hoped the virus hasn't damaged his chances of making his second World Cup squad after missing selection for all test matches.

"It's just bad luck ... I haven't been involved all year and now I've done one session and have got to go home," Cockbain said.

Japan-bound at the end of the year, the versatile Cockbain, who can play lock or anywhere in the backrow, hoped his final international is not behind him.

"I've got to go back and recover and hopefully I'll be able to play on Friday night in Brisbane.

"That's all I've got at the moment and hopefully that will be enough when the squad's picked in September. Hopefully I've played enough and shown enough that they (selectors) know what I can do."

Australia will name its team on Wednesday for the New Zealand match and fly to Auckland on Thursday.

O'Neill fears early knockout for Wallabies

CANBERRA (Reuters) -- Just two months before the World Cup kicks off in Sydney, Australia's top rugby official said Monday he feared the world champion Wallabies could get knocked out before the semifinals.

Australian Rugby Union (ARU) chief executive John O'Neill said the Wallabies had been disappointing this year, losing successive matches to England, South Africa and New Zealand in June and July.

"Look, my worst nightmare is getting beaten in the quarterfinals," O'Neill told a business function in Canberra.

"There's probably one worse than that and that's not making the quarterfinals, but I think we'll make the quarterfinals and then go on and probably play New Zealand in the semifinals.

"But for the home team to get knocked out ... would be very disappointing."

O'Neill said Australia had suffered a high turnover of players since their 1999 World Cup success, with the retirements of captain and lock forward John Eales and player of the tournament, center Tim Horan, among others.

"A lot of great players have retired. The rebuilding maybe should have started a bit earlier," O'Neill said.

"But I think the home team can also lift itself. South Africa in 1995 were not the best team in the tournament, but they still won."

O'Neill said the result of Australia's Tri-nations match against the All Blacks in Auckland this week would be keenly felt in both countries.

"When we were beaten by the All Blacks a couple of weeks ago (50-21 on July 26 in Sydney), the outpouring that week was very similar to what you usually see in New Zealand," O'Neill said.

"Any stumble now is magnified and we've had more stumbles than we would have liked to have had, quite frankly."

 

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Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.