THE Wallabies look set to take on Six Nations champions Ireland in next month’s three Test series without Will Genia after the star halfback injured his knee.

Genia limped off late in the first half of the Rebels’ 55-10 Super Rugby thrashing by the Crusaders at AAMI Park with the early diagnosis a medial ligament tear.

That means the 30-year-old is likely to be sidelined for up to eight weeks, ruling him out of the series against the Irish starting in Brisbane on June 9.

Genia will have a scan on Saturday but a Rebels spokesman said the initial diagnosis wasn’t good.

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“At this stage it looks like a grade two or three tear according to the physio,” the spokesman said.

Without Genia, the No 9 Test jersey is wide open with Nick Phipps starting on the bench for the Waratahs behind Jake Gordon while Brumbies halfback Joe Powell is also in the mix.

While Genia has starred for the Rebels, who he joined after two years playing in France, he missed their two previous games with a hamstring injury.

That didn’t appear to give him any trouble in the AAMI Park match and he looked at his dangerous best before the injury that was caused by a tackle midway through the opening half.

Genia had the knee strapped and battled on for another 10 minutes before being forced off.