SA 'curse' strikes Higginbotham

Wallaby utility forward Scott Higginbotham’s horror run in South Africa continued when he suffered an injury during Thursday’s training session.

Higginbotham, who was named on the bench for the Rugby Championship Test against South Africa at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday, injured his back when captain Nathan Sharpe fell on him after a botched training drill.

The player sat out Friday’s Captain Run, opting to receive physio treatment instead, and is unlikely to play.

A final decision on his participation will be made on Saturday morning, with the Wallabies set to revert to a four-three split bench with centre Mike Harris coming into the matchday 22 in the event that Higginbotham is ruled out.

The freak injury comes days after Higginbotham was hit by a gastro bug that struck down six Wallaby players and two years after he was forced out of his scheduled Test debut in Pretoria due to back spasm suffered during the warm-up.