Benn Robinson believes he must test his ACL-less right knee under the pressure of a 1.8 tonne scrum this month to ensure his “roller-coaster” World Cup bid lands him in New Zealand.
Bypassing a reconstruction, the Wallabies prop has continued his remarkable bid for a miracle recovery in time for the tournament with more positive small steps in camp on the Gold Coast.
He ran 1.5km over the weekend and also started swerve running, which sorely tested the joint, allowing him to continue with his shock comeback attempt.
But Robinson admits he needs to ensure he can get a club match under his belt before Australia flies out for New Zealand at the start of September.
“I definitely want to play a game,” he said on Monday. “That would be a real test for me.
“You can run up and down as much as you want but to play in a game and have those in-game challenges and those movements will be important for me.
“And scrums are going to be up there on the list.”
Robbie Deans will name his 30-man World Cup squad on August 18, likely to come well before Robinson can play again, but the coach can name the world-class prop and then replace him if he doesn’t recover in time.
Robinson, who ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament three weeks ago, isn’t thinking about timelines as he takes every day one at a time.
“It’s difficult to talk about where I’m going to be,” he said with some emotion. “At the moment, it’s small steps and working hard to get it as strong as possible.
“It’s getting easier (mentally) each day.
“When I found out I did my knee, I was pretty down and did it tough for a week and then, on the Monday, when I found out I might be able to play, it’s been a roller-coaster ride ever since.
“To get up and train and have a shot to play in the World Cup, that’s easy to do.”
Among the small percentage of people who can function without an ACL, Robinson said he would still have a reconstruction after the World Cup if his long-shot paid off.
Deans isn’t getting his hopes up, even though he’d love to have the 42-Test loose-head wearing the Wallabies No.1 jersey.
“It’s early days for Benn,” he said. “He’s made a great start in the context that history suggests the odds aren’t great.”
“There’s hope still, which is good, but there’s a long way to go.”
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