Australia vice-captain Toutai Kefu was ruled out of the World Cup today with a cracked shoulder blade.
"I gave it one last shot this morning but the injury is a lot worse than first thought and that means I'll miss the World Cup," Kefu told reporters in Brisbane after further examinations indicated his test career had likely come to an end.
The hard-running number eight suffered the injury during world champions Australia's Tri-Nation's/Bledisloe Cup loss to New Zealand on August 16th.
Kefu said doctors had told him surgery was not yet necessary but that the shoulder injury would take at least another six weeks to begin to heal properly.
"I can't begin to describe how disappointing this is but I'm thankful that I've got a wonderful young family and a brand new baby in my life," said Kefu, who has also been troubled by a neck injury for the past month.
Kefu has been an integral member of the Wallabies squad and became the dominant figure in Australia's forward pack after the retirement of former captain John Eales following the 1999 World Cup.
The 29-year-old made his test debut against South Africa in 1997 and his 60 test appearances make him Australia's most-capped number eight.
He had hoped to end his test career with another World Cup success and has signed to play club rugby in Japan next year.
"There are some people you just don't want to lose and Toutai is one of them," Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said. "This was to be Kef's farewell to Australian rugby and to see him miss out this way is a tragedy," he said.
Australia will name their 30-man World Cup squad on Thursday and play their opening match against Argentina on October 10th.