The Wallabies will call in an injury replacement after uncapped teenager Max Jorgensen was ruled out of the World Cup in France after fracturing his leg at training.
Bidding to become the youngest Wallabies player to debut at a World Cup, the 19-year-old speedster suffered the injury during a drill on Wednesday morning and was immediately sent for scans which confirmed the fracture.
A bolter in Eddie Jones' squad, Jorgensen wasn't set to feature in Australia's must-win pool clash with Wales in Lyon on Sunday (Monday AEST) but could have been in line for a Test debut against minnows Portugal in Saint-Etienne next week.
Jorgensen suffered a serious knee injury while playing for the NSW Waratahs in May and was seen wearing heavy strapping at training through the World Cup.
He may be replaced in the Wallabies squad by an Australian player who is in camp with the Barbarians, with the invitational side currently playing matches throughout the UK and Ireland.
Discarded fullback Tom Wright is one option while Jones could turn to Bernard Foley to provide depth at five-eighth after Carter Gordon struggled in their historic loss to Fiji.
There's no obligation to countries to swap like for like, with South Africa this week replacing injured hooker Malcolm Marx with five-eighth Handre Pollard.
Lock Will Skelton (calf) and prop Taniela Tupou (hamstring) are also unavailable for Wales and with no public timeline for their return the Wallabies could look to bolster their forward stocks.
Former captain, flanker Michael Hooper, has said that he's continued to train should Jones send an SOS after leaving him out of the World Cup squad with the Australians struggling at the breakdown in their last match.
Before news of Jorgensen broke Ex-Test winger Drew Mitchell questioned the Wallabies training regime after the injuries to Skelton and Tupou, which ruled the pair out of the Fiji match.
"From all reports and from the evidence of two players having soft tissue injuries, he's (Jones) over-trained them through the week," Mitchell said on The Good, The Bad and the Rugby Australia podcast.
"How can you have a hamstring and a calf leading into the biggest game of our World Cup? There's definitely an element of over-training for sure if you're getting soft tissue injuries.
"There's probably an indication that he (Jones) felt the pressure and has over-worked the guys."
Jones said the squad was upset for Jorgensen, who is the son of two-Test Wallaby Peter Jorgensen.
"Firstly we're all feeling for Max. He's a good young man who has a massive future ahead of him in the gold jersey," Jones said in a statement.
"He's worked really hard to come back from a serious knee injury and was training exceptionally well to put his hand up for selection.
"We wish him a speedy and successful recovery and look forward to seeing him out on the field as soon as possible."
