Rugby World Cup
Australia's Michael Hooper banned for Wales clash
Sam Bruce
October 6, 2015

The Wallabies have been dealt a blow ahead of their Rugby World Cup Pool A decider against Wales with openside flanker Michael Hooper handed a one-week ban for an illegal cleanout on England full-back Mike Brown.

Hooper fronted the hearing on Tuesday morning after citing commissioner Steve Hind found the hit, which was given just a penalty by French referee Romain Poite at the time, to have met the red-card threshold for foul play.

The Wallabies No.7 pleaded entered a guilty plea which, combined with his clean record, saw a two-week ban reduced to one.

Michael Hooper looks on during a training session
Michael Hooper looks on during a training session© Dan Mullan/Getty Images

Hooper's place will be taken by either Ben McCalman or impressive rookie Sean McMahon. McCalman was preferred on the bench against England last week while McMahon has claimed man-of-the-match honours in both of his first two Tests.

"Yeah, I guess we've got a squad of 31 and that's the reason why you have a squad of 31," said assistant coach Stephen Larkham. 

"We've got a couple of excellent players waiting for their chance; Ben McCalman, Sean McMahon have both played really well in the tournament so far.

"But in saying that, Michael has had a tremendous tournament, in fact the games before the tournament he was a standout as well so it's hard to replace someone like that but these guys are certainly ready to go."

Asked whether he was surprised England replacement Sam Burgess was only given a warning for his high tackle on Hooper on Saturday night, Larkham said: "Again it's up to the citing commissioner, again we're happy with the process that he goes through and we know we've been lucky in the past ... we don't have any problem with any of the decisions that have been made."

The Wallabies will name their squad to take on Wales on Thursday.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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