Wallabies hooker Stephen Moore has every confidence Waratahs lock Dean Mumm will be up to the task if required to cover for the injured Nathan Sharpe against Les Bleus on Saturday night.
Sharpe, last season's John Eales medallist, remains in severe doubt for the second Test after he suffered a groin injury in an innocuous training mishap on Thursday morning.
Mumm, who has come off the bench in each of his two Test appearances to date, will almost certainly join 23-year-old Reds skipper James Horwill in the second row, with a final decision to be made on Sharpe by Friday morning.
"I haven't spoken to him (Sharpe) since training but I hear he's in a fair bit of doubt for the game," Moore said on Thursday afternoon.
"But if he is out we've got Dean Mumm there to step in and he's been good any time he's got the chance."
"He had a very good year for the Waratahs so I've got every confidence that he'll step straight in there."
Sharpe's likely withdrawal robs him of an all-important final hitout before the Wallabies' opening Tri Nations clash with the Springboks in Perth on July 19.
But Moore says his side can ill-afford to look beyond the French who have named an experimental side for the second Test following their 34-13 defeat in Sydney.
"Combinations are important but you can't help it when someone gets injured and it presents another chance for someone else to step in," Moore said.
"And that's the way we look at it, we've still got a Test match to play and we're not looking at anything beyond this week."
World Cup squad member Hugh McMeniman will join the Wallabies in Brisbane as reward for his solid performances for Australia A since returning from a broken ankle suffered in Round 2 of the Super 14 competition.
The injury-prone Queenslander will earn his 13th Test cap if sent into battle in front of his home crowd on Saturday night.