Wednesday 19th September 2007
Australia captain Stirling Mortlock insists there was no element of revenge in his late tackle on Gareth Thomas during the Wallabies' 32-20 victory on Saturday.
Mortlock's collision with Thomas left the Wales captain with rib cartilage damage and ruled him out of action for the next two weeks.
Earlier in the half, Thomas had taken out Berrick Barnes with a late hit after the Wallabies' rookie fly-half created the opening try for Matt Giteau.
But Mortlock said he was not out to "get square'' with Thomas.
"As a team, and personally, we had a real offensive mindset into how we defended,'' said Mortlock.
"And when you get into situations where you can be offensive, get a bit of line speed and hopefully get a decent shot on the opposition, whomever they are, you try to take advantage of the opportunity.
"It just happened to be the guy who put a pretty big hit on Barnesy.''
Thomas had feared he would be out of the tournament and stranded on 99 caps but he is expected to be fit again for the quarter-finals.
Mortlock also faces two weeks out after suffering a partial dislocation to his shoulder and will not rush back before the quarter-finals.
"The range of movement is not too bad. We always knew it was going to be a little bit sore after the game, after what happened but it's starting to progress,'' said Mortlock.
The Wallabies will also be without Stephen Larkham for the second two Pool B matches, against Fiji and Canada, but the fly-half is determined to be back to face England in the quarter-finals.
"I'd be disappointed if I wasn't fit for that game,'' said Larkham.
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