Wallabies: We can cope without Ioane

The Wallabies are confident they have the depth in their squad to fill the gap left by injured wing Digby Ioane.

Teammates were rocked by news that Ioane had fractured his right thumb during Australia’s 32-6 victory over Italy on Sunday and would need surgery.

"That was a real shock actually,” Adam Ashley-Cooper said. “It's thrown a real spanner in the works."

"I think it's a massive blow,” added scrum half Will Genia.

“He's someone who gets us over the advantage line more often than not and he's always looking for work. He's always an extra runner because he loves getting his hands on the ball.”

With the flashy wing ruled out of Australia’s match against Ireland on Saturday, centre Anthony Fainga'a believes Ioane’s absence will put pressure on the team.

"With Digby topping the tackle counts and topping the attacking runs, it brings a lot of pressure to everyone,” he said.

Chip in

“It just means everyone has to chip in a bit more."

Australia must also decide who will replace Ioane, though the team is confident in the quality and depth of their squad.

"While it's unfortunate to lose 'Diggers' for however long he's out for with his injury, the group covers that,” second row Dan Vickerman said.

“It's sad to see him go but I have every faith that the guys that are coming in will do just as good a job.

"That's the beauty of having a strong squad. Our group from 1 to 30 is a pretty well-balanced group and the guys coming in have played a lot of Test matches."

Anthony Faingaa added: "James O'Connor, Drew Mitchell, we've got some guys who've played good Super Rugby, Tri Nations and World Cups before."

After surgery this week, Ioane should be able to return to the Australian line-up later in the tournament.

Genia said his Queensland Reds teammate was remaining upbeat despite the setback.

"He's in good spirits,” Genia said. “There's nothing he can do about it. Obviously he's disappointed and would like to play but he's still going to be around the group and hopefully all goes well and he'll be back training.''