Wallaby Henjak sent home after throwing drink

CAPE TOWN - Back-up Wallabies halfback Matt Henjak is being sent home from South Africa following a nightclub incident in Cape Town last week.

Lote Tuqiri and Wendell Sailor have also been reprimanded, receiving two-match sentences, suspended for two years, and a A$500 ($562) fine for breaching team standards.

Prop Matt Dunning was also fined.

Henjak has suffered the most severe punishment after admitting throwing the contents of a drink at The Pulse nightclub early last Thursday.

He also received a two-match suspended sentence and was fined A$500.

It is understood a number of the players were out until 4am just two days before their Mandela Challenge Plate test against South Africa in Johannesburg, which the Wallabies lost 33-20.

Investigations into the incident by team manager Phil Thomson found that there was no altercation involving players and members of the public, but their behaviour was deemed inappropriate.

Meanwhile, Wallabies playmaker Stephen Larkham is likely to move to fullback for Sunday's Tri-Nations opener in Pretoria if Chris Latham is unavailable through injury.

Latham moved a little gingerly round the team's hotel in Cape Town yesterday after a tackle by Springbok Schalk Burger during the weekend's test left him with a badly bruised back.

With coach Eddie Jones keen to give Matt Giteau more time in the No 10 jersey, Jones' early preference is to slot Larkham back into the position where he started with the Brumbies in 1996.

Larkham last played a test at No 15 against England in 2002 and has also filled the position a number of times during matches.

While impressed with rookie Drew Mitchell, who looked at ease when he replaced his fellow Queenslander in the second half against the South Africans, Jones knows Pretoria is not exactly a dream place to make your run-on debut.

"It [experience] definitely will be [important] because Pretoria is not too different from Ellis Park and it will be the same sort of factors in place and certainly I think experienced players handle those conditions generally a little bit better," Jones said.

"It's the sort of place where again they probably play a little bit differently. It's the mauling capital of the world and they like high bombs there."

The move would also give the oft-targeted Larkham considerably more space to attack.

Jones described Latham as a 50-50 prospect, but the man himself was still confident of playing.

"I should be fine. It's definitely very positive medical-wise," Latham said following treatment yesterday.

After cementing his spot at fullback with a dazzling spring tour of Europe last year, Latham has had a frustrating test season, slipping in and out of the Wallabies with hamstring problems.

- AAP