Latham in doubt for Bledisloe

Qantas Wallabies fullback Chris Latham remains in doubt for Saturday's Bledisloe Cup clash against the All Blacks in Sydney after sustaining a hamstring injury.

Latham missed the squad's training session on Monday although he is expected to be able to join in on Wednesday, after which coach Eddie Jones will name the side for the Test.

"If everything goes well, he'll be OK but any setback would be a real concern," Jones told the Sydney Morning Herald.

Australia will already be without injured pair Wendell Sailor and Stephen Larkham for the crucial clash.

Jones has flagged 22-year-old Drew Mitchell as a possible replacement for Latham if the coach decides not to risk naming the player, while he is also in line for a run on the wing in place of Sailor.

"Mitchell is the frontrunner," Jones said. "He has had a couple of great games with Australia A, while he's done really well off the bench for us and at this stage deserves an opportunity."

Matt Giteau is likely to replace Larkham at fly-half, as Jones insisted that Elton Flatley, Brendan Cannon and Clyde Rathbone could not be considered as starters as they return from injury.

"Those guys have played a maximum of one game in the last few months, so starting a game may be a little too hard for them at this stage," the coach pointed out.

"The guys say the Bledisloe Cup is the fastest game you play all year and that might be going one step too far at this stage."

Jones was able to draw a number of positives from the Springboks' win over New Zealand on the weekend, not the least of which being that it made the Wallabies' two losses in South Africa easier to cope with.

"The New Zealand loss does bring some perspective to the situation but it doesn't bring the win back, which we should have had in Pretoria," Jones said.

"Still, it does identify where South Africa did well against New Zealand in areas where we might be able to exploit as well."