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England's Maro Itoje out of series decider
By Ian Cameron
England second-row Maro Itoje will play no part in the Australia tour series decider in Sydney next weekend.
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Itoje was concussed after a collision with Hunder Paisami and was removed from the action. The Saracens star failed a subsequent HIA and did not return to the field.
Unlike Ireland’s Johnny Sexton’s a week before, Itoje’s clear on-field concussive symptoms mean he will automatically be excluded from playing for twelve days.
“The medical situation with Maro is that he will be out next weekend,” said England head coach Eddie Jones after the match.
England levelled the series with a 25-17 win in Brisbane.
The visitors led 19-0 in the first half on Saturday but Australia edged to within five points late at Suncorp Stadium, despite four injuries and a yellow card to Dave Rennie’s men.
But some costly turnovers when they had all the running hurt the Wallabies, who scored two tries to England’s one but had to watch as man-of-the-match Owen Farrell booted six penalties.
Rennie lamented poor tackling, England’s early collision dominance and costly late mistakes for the loss.
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“I don’t want to be here talking about injuries,” he said
“That’s part of the game and we’ve had a few but wasn’t the reason we lost tonight.”
It creates a series decider in Sydney next Saturday when the Wallabies’ depth will be tested after a heavy injury toll that had already piled up in Perth’s op ener.
The much-hyped Jordan Petaia fullback experiment lasted just three minutes before he was concussed making a tackle.
The 22-year-old struggled to get to his feet when he eventually limped off and will almost certainly miss next week’s third Test in Sydney.
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His injury made it a third fullback casualty for the Wallabies in the series, after Tom Banks broke his arm in Perth and Andrew Kellaway (hamstring) pulled up lame during the week.
He too will miss the third Test.
additional reporting AAP
