The Wallabies were dealt a cruel blow on the eve of their historic Bledisloe Cup encounter with the All Blacks in Tokyo on Saturday, with vice-captain Berrick Barnes having been ruled out after suffering an ankle injury in a training ground mishap.

Barnes was taken to hospital for x-rays, which will determine whether or not he is able to remain with the Wallabies for the remainder of their six-match tour - which will see them chase the grand slam of victories over the four Home Unions Ireland, England, Wales and Scotland.

Should he be sent back to Australia, it would be a devastating personal blow to the 23-year-old midfield general, as well as a huge setback to the Wallabies's grand slam chances.

Barnes lasted less than 20 minutes of last year's year-end tour of Europe, before breaking down with a knee injury against Italy - which also required an early journey home.

Barnes's injury has prompted coach Robbie Deans to reshuffle his backline, promoting teenager James O'Connor from the bench to start at fullback and moving Adam Ashley-Cooper to inside centre.

Although the x-rays on Thursday cleared Barnes of any fractures, Wallabies management say it is unlikely they will learn the full extent of his injury until the swelling subsides in the next 24-48 hours.

It is hoped Barnes has not suffered major ligament damage, which would almost certainly rule him out of the tour.

The injury also means the Wallabies are without their two frontline centres, with Stirling Mortlock ruled out last week with a calf injury.

But the All Blacks remain wary of the Wallabies' intent, signalled by Deans' selections this week of a robust, physical side across the park.

"If we do our jobs and have that mental edge and that aggressiveness and dominate them, we'll see what happens," one-test lock Tom Donnelly said.

"But they're going to throw everything at us, including the kitchen sink. You can see that by the selections they've made. They're going to try and run it and use their big runners to get over the advantage line."

Australia - revised: 15 James O'Connor, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom (captain), 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements: 16 Stephen Moore, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Drew Mitchell, 22 TBC.

Date: Saturday, October 31
Venue: National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan
Kick-off: 17.35 (08.35 GMT)
Referee: Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Craig Joubert, Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
TMO: Akihisa Aso (Japan)

365

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