Kurtley Beale had been tipped for the Wallabies' No.10 shirt for next month's international clashes with Scotland and Wales © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Kurtley Beale | Robbie Deans

Tournaments/Tours: Wales tour | Scotland tour

Teams: Australia

Australia have suffered a fresh injury blow ahead of their clashes with Scotland and Wales with the news that in-form playmaker Kurtley Beale has been ruled out of action following surgery on a shoulder injury.

Just a day after captain James Horwill was sidelined, Beale has also been cut from the squad following having picked up the injury in the Rebels' Super Rugby defeat at the hands of the Hurricanes on Saturday.

"Kurtley had an appointment this morning with a specialist. He's going to require an operation," Wallabies coach Robbie Deans told reporters at the Wallabies training camp in Sydney. "But the fact that he needs an operation is indicative of the fact that it is serious and it will rule him out of the June (Test) window."

The Rebels later released a statement saying that the fullback-turned-fly-half had subsequently gone under the knife. "Kurtley Beale had surgery today to clean out floating cartilage from his left shoulder joint," it said. "Beale will be closely monitored over the coming days, but the initial assessment is that he will be unavailable for the next 3-4 weeks."

Deans also revealed that Horwill's hamstring injury may not be as bad as first thought. "James, we are presuming, is out for the whole of June but it is not as bad as it first looked. It looked pretty sinister at the time," Deans said.

Beale had been favourite to start at No.10 against Scotland in Newcastle on June 5 with regular fly-half Quade Cooper having only just returned from a long injury lay-off and James O'Connor sidelined with a liver injury. The other name in the mix is the Waratahs' Berrick Barnes.

Deans would not be drawn on the identity of a new captain although Western Force flanker David Pocock and Reds scrum-half Will Genia thought to be in line for the honour. Veteran Nathan Sharpe is expected to fill the void in the Wallabies' starting line-up.

Australia:

Backs: B Barnes (Waratahs), A Ashley-Cooper (Waratahs), Q Cooper (Queensland Reds), A Faingaa (Queensland Reds), B Foley (Waratahs), W Genia (Queensland Reds), M Harris (Queensland Reds), R Horne (Waratahs), D Ioane (Queensland Reds), P McCabe (Brumbies), J Mogg (Brumbies), L Morahan (Queensland Reds), N Phipps (Melbourne Rebels), D Shipperley (Queensland Reds), J Tomane (Brumbies), C Vuna (Melbourne Rebels), N White (Brumbies)

Forwards: B Alexander (Brumbies), D Dennis (Waratahs), K Douglas (Waratahs), S Faingaa (Queensland Reds), S Higginbotham (Queensland Reds), S Kepu (Waratahs), S Ma'afu (Western Force), B McCalman (Western Force), S Moore (Brumbies), C Neville (Melbourne Rebels), D Palmer (Brumbies), W Palu (Waratahs), D Pocock (Western Force), T Polota-Nau (Waratahs), H Pyle (Melbourne Rebels), B Robinson (Waratahs), N Sharpe (Western Force), R Simmons (Queensland Reds), J Slipper (Queensland Reds), S Timani (Waratahs)