The suspended Wallabies loose forward Scott Higginbotham says his omission from Australia's four-match European tour has been hard to swallow.
Higginbotham was banned for two games for kneeing and head-butting the All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw in the Bledisloe Cup test in Brisbane earlier this month - so the Wallabies coach Robbie Deans decided against including the former Queensland Reds flanker, who would have been available for only two of their four tests.
