<
>

Rory Arnold injury forces Wallabies re-think

Rory Arnold's injury in France has forced the Wallabies to have a re-think GEOFF CADDICK/AFP via Getty Images

New forwards coach Geoff Parling has bristled at the suggestion the Wallabies lineout needs "fixing" although he says he's putting his stamp on it before next month's first Bledisloe Cup Tests.

Only 10 days into the job, Parling says he's implementing a new lineout system and is confident the Wallabies will be up to speed by the opening Test in Wellington on October 11.

Wayward lineout throwing was a notable weakness amongst Super Rugby AU teams, although the Melbourne Rebels, where Parling coached, were the best performed.

Parling wasn't reading too much into the statistics.

"I appreciate during the season probably some of the standards weren't where we wanted them to be but on the flip-side you could say some of the defensive work was excellent," Parling said from the Wallabies base in Christchurch.

"As far as I'm concerned there's nothing to fix cause it's a fresh system and we've just started."

The former British and Irish Lions lock, who played on their Australian tour in 2013, was called in to assist Wallabies coach Dave Rennie after his first choice, Brumbies coach Dan McKellar, declined.

Despite the late start Parling, who has 29 England Test caps to his credit, has full autonomy with the lineout.

"Dave has been excellent, he has input but he lets us assistant coaches go," Parling said.

Parling has already won a fan in hooker Brendan Paenga-Amosa.

"Geoff has really helped us, he's done a good job of breaking everything down for us, he's unreal." Paenga-Amosa said.

"I back our system and our lineout and I'm definitely on board with it."

Meanwhile, the Wallabies will look to Plan B for the Rugby Championship after towering lock Rory Arnold fractured his forearm while playing in France overnight.

The 208cm tall Arnold was at the top of Rennie's hit list after Rugby Australia announced selection revisions earlier this month that opened the door to players plying their trade overseas.

Former Brumbies star Arnold has played 26 Tests and was part of Australia's World Cup campaign last year before leaving for France in a mass exodus of second-rowers.

But the 30-year-old broke his arm while playing for Toulouse, ruling him out of the Rugby Championship which gets underway in early November.

Parling was watching the French team's Champions Cup semi-final against Exeter and saw Arnold go down.

"It's unfortunate for Rory, he's a guy who came into the discussion about joining us for that Rugby Championship," Parling said.

"He's certainly a decent player and I like him as well because he's about seven-foot-four so that definitely helps.

"Now we will reassess but I've got lots of confidence in guys we've got here."

The Wallabies may now consider Will Skelton, Izack Rodda (both in France) or Adam Coleman (England), who Parling played with at the Rebels before hos move into coaching.