The explosive No 8 sustained damage to cartilage and ligaments in his shoulder during the second half of last weekend’s 18-13 win over France in Paris.
He had already been ruled out of Australia’s final two matches due to the injury before coach Robbie Deans made the decision on Wednesday to send him home for treatment.
“His shoulder hasn’t responded to treatment over the last two days and it became clear that he wouldn’t be available for either the test against Wales (on Saturday) or the tour-ending game against the Barbarians,” Deans said. “That being the case, the best thing for Cliff was to head home early to seek further treatment.”
Palu was philosophical over the tour-ending injury and what has been a successful season.
“It’s obviously not the way I wanted to end, but the key thing now is to get it sorted out so it doesn’t cause any problems in the future,” he said. “Between making the Super 14 final with the Waratahs and some of the wins we’ve had with the Wallabies, it’s been a good year and one that I will look back on pretty positively
