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The Bledisloe Cup may well have been decided for another year before trusty halves Quade Cooper and Will Genia are available for the Wallabies again.
Both stars were omitted from Australia’s 32-man squad for the Rugby Championship, with Wallabies coach Ewen McKenzie revealing Genia was “a way off” returning from ankle surgery.
Cooper, who underwent hip and shoulder surgery in May, was always going to struggle to make it back until late in the Rugby Championship, but it had been hoped Genia would be available for the second Bledisloe clash on August 23 in Auckland, if not quite the first a week earlier in Sydney.
The 55-Test veteran had ankle surgery in June.
McKenzie, though, on Wednesday revealed Genia was only just running again.
“It’s very much at the front-end of running, just getting back,” he said.
“He’s had a couple of running sessions so he’s moving along but he’s still a way off being able to play a game.
“He’s still got to get through a complete training (session) at 100 per cent capacity.
“So we’ll just keep tracking that.”
Cooper and Genia are the only halves pairing to have tasted Test-match success over the top-ranked All Blacks in the past five years.
But even when Genia is back available for selection, Cooper will be at least two or three Tests behind his Queensland Reds teammate after initially being told he’d need 16 weeks to rehabilitate.
The Wallabies’ final Rugby Championship match is in Argentina on October 4 before Australia and New Zealand face off in a potentially decisive Bledisloe Cup showdown in Brisbane two weeks later.
But McKenzie won’t consider Cooper – or anyone for that matter – unless he’s 100 per cent fit.
“Returning to training is one thing but returning to play is another and then being match fit and at the peak of your powers is another thing again,” McKenzie said.
“So there’s three stages in my head about how that goes, so we’ll just keep tracking that.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.