The news will come as a blow to Sharpe after he was a high profile casualty for the All Blacks Test a fortnight ago © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Matt Giteau | Rob Horne | Tatafu Polota-Nau | Nathan Sharpe

Tournaments/Tours: Tri Nations

Teams: Australia

Wallabies lock Nathan Sharpe will miss Saturday's Tri-Nations decider with the All Blacks after being named captain of the Australian Barbarians.

The second-string Australian side will tackle Canada on Friday evening at the Gold Coast's Skilled Park and the 33-year-old lock has been named as captain. It is now the second time this campaign that the 96-Test second-row has been left out of the 22-man Wallabies squad for a Tri-Nations Test having been omitted for the clash with New Zealand a fortnight ago.

And Sharpe seems to be behind Dan Vickerman, Wallabies captain James Horwill andRob Simmons in the Australian second-row pecking order. Sharpe would have hoped to reach the century milestone for the Wallabies during the World Cup but now faces a battle to impress the selectors ahead of Australia's first match of the tournament against Italy on September 11.

The Australian Barbarians side - coached by Aystralian Rugby Union high-performance director David Nucifora - sees the return of Berrick Barnes (concussion), Rob Horne (elbow), Drew Mitchell (ankle), James Slipper (ankle) and Tatafu Polota-Nau (knee). All five were injury doubts going into the World Cup but each of them were rewarded by Robbie Deans with a place in the 30-man squad for the tournament.

However, there is no place for Wycliff Palu in the side as the Waratahs No.8 bids to recover from his injury troubles. But Matt Giteau has been named and he will hope to show the Wallabies selectors what he can do after being left out of the squad for the World Cup.

Australian Barbarians: Lachie Turner, Rod Davies, Rob Horne, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Berrick Barnes, Nick Phipps; Ben Daley, Tatafu Polota Nau, James Slipper, Sitaleki Timani, Nathan Sharpe, Dave Dennis, Matt Hodgson, Pat McCutcheon

Replacements: James Hanson, Pekahou Cowan, Dean Mumm, Beau Robinson, Ben Tapuai, Luke Morahan, Mark Gerrard