THE Wallabies suspect their World Cup campaign may be under threat from a jinxed set of hair clippers used by three backs who have since been injured. After Scott Staniforth confirmed his shoulder injury sustained in Sunday's game against Fiji would, thankfully, not require him to return home, he revealed that he, Stephen Larkham and Mark Gerrard, who have both been felled by injuries, have also used hair clippers belonging to Al "The Fuse" Baxter. Ironically, just before a late afternoon press call held for Staniforth to explain his injury, Baxter returned from a walk and stopped next to the gathering of media. He jokingly asked if there was a scandal, and, if he was in it, "which one was it". At that point, as Staniforth later explained, Baxter, the prop, was unaware of the back's suspicion his clippers may have bad karma. "Mark Gerrard, myself and Stephen Larkham have all used the same clippers for our hair. So we're throwing them in the bin," laughed Staniforth. Then, when asked if anyone else used the clippers, the 29 year-old wing-cum-centre said: "They are Al Baxter's clippers. I don't want to put a curse on anyone. I'm not in his position so I don't know why he's cursing them."

Water boys

Not only has Adam Ashley-Cooper been one of the finds of the season for the Wallabies, he also impressed his teammates with his incredible underwater swimming skills. This boy just hasn't got a big heart, but enormous lungs - as evidenced at the recovery session on Monday, when he won the team underwater swimming contest, completing three laps of the 20-metre Montpellier pool without surfacing. Second place went to Superfish Berrick Barnes, who did two-and-a-half laps.

The Mysterious Mr Tuqiri

The standard of commentating so far at this World Cup hasn't exactly been sensational, but maybe one of the "experts" calling games has made a significant find. Player agents and coaches in Australia should now be scouring the countryside, according to one of our regular snouts and renowned lounge lizard, Dirk Wolfgang. Taking refuge from the fixed grin of Channel Ten's Rupert McCall, Wolfgang heard the following in the Fox commentary for the Wallabies-Fiji game. After a run from Lote Tuqiri, the commentator revealed: "Top-flight brothers, of course, the Tuqiris. One in the squad, one not." The search is on for the Dark Shark Mark II.

These fickle French ...

The Wallabies were first to criticise their own game against Fiji on Sunday. But if you thought it was a matter of their being hard on themselves to deliberately keep themselves on their toes, think again. The French journal Rugby Hebdo, who picked four Wallabies in last week's team of the week - including Berrick Barnes as player of the week - didn't rate any of them good enough to make this week's cut.