Australia has written to the International Rugby Board (IRB) asking to cancel their November test against Canada after Canada's top players threatened to boycott the match.
Australian Rugby Union (ARU) managing director John O'Neill said it wanted to cancel the November 27th match in Vancouver after Canadian rugby officials said they could not guarantee their best team would be available.
"While I sympathise with the predicament in which Rugby Canada finds itself, we have asked for certainty, which, unfortunately, the Canadians cannot provide," O'Neill said.
Canada's top players have gone on strike over the sacking of coach David Clark and also threatened to withdraw from internationals against Ireland and Scotland in October unless he is reinstated.
The players are angry over Clark's dismissal and by what they view as a refusal by officials to take into account their views on the matter.
O'Neill said ARU were looking to add another match to their end-of-season tour of Europe as long as the IRB agreed to cancel the test.
Under IRB laws, national teams are required to field their strongest team at all times. The regulation was introduced after Australia thrashed a second-string England team 76-0 in 1998.