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Injured pair in line for Wallabies return

Timani and Moore missed Australia’s victories over the Springboks and Pumas with hamstring injuries but will be available for the Wallabies’ final two Rugby Championship fixtures.

INJURED AUSTRALIAN DUO italeki Timani and Stephen Moore are on track to face South Africa in Pretoria next Saturday.

The pair were named in a 28-man Wallabies squad to tour South Africa and Argentina.

Timani and Moore missed Australia’s victories over the Springboks and Pumas with hamstring injuries but will be available for the Wallabies’ final two Rugby Championship fixtures.

Winger Dom Shipperley, who this week had surgery to repair a dislocated finger suffered against Argentina, will also travel with the squad on Thursday morning. Waratahs prop Paddy Ryan and Force winger Nick Cummins are the only uncapped players named in the touring party.

Flyhalf Quade Cooper was left out of the squad, with the out-of-form star to undergo minor knee surgery. Reds team-mate Mike Harris will travel to South Africa, however Berrick Barnes and out-of-sorts superstar Kurtley Beale are the main candidates to assume Cooper’s flyhalf duties.

Reds trio Ben Tapuai, Harris and lock Rob Simmons will link up with the squad on Tuesday after they were released to play in Sunday’s Brisbane club final between University and Sunnybank. The Wallabies are looking for back-to-back wins on the South African high veldt, having clinched an epic 41-39 triumph at their last attempt in Bloemfontein in 2010.

Robbie Deans’ men are in second spot on the Rugby Championship ladder. They must win their two remaining clashes and have the All Blacks fail to earn a point against Argentina and South Africa to win the inaugural tournament.

Wallabies squad: Adam Ashley-Cooper (NSW Waratahs), Kurtley Beale (Melbourne Rebels), Digby Ioane (Queensland Reds), Dominic Shipperley (Queensland Reds), Nick Cummins (Western Force), Ben Tapuai (Queensland Reds), Anthony Fainga’a (Queensland Reds), Pat McCabe (Brumbies), Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs), Mike Harris (Queensland Reds), Nick Phipps (Melbourne Rebels), Brett Sheehan (Western Force), Scott Higginbotham (Queensland Reds), Radike Samo (Queensland Reds), Michael Hooper (Brumbies), Liam Gill (Queensland Reds), Dave Dennis (NSW Waratahs), Rob Simmons (Queensland Reds), Nathan Sharpe (Western Force), Kane Douglas (NSW Waratahs), Sitaleki Timani (NSW Waratahs), Ben Alexander (Brumbies), Paddy Ryan (NSW Waratahs), James Slipper (Queensland Reds), Benn Robinson (NSW Waratahs), Saia Fainga’a (Queensland Reds), Stephen Moore (Brumbies), Tatafu Polota Nau (NSW Waratahs)

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