Jordan Petaia’s rugby return was planned down to the minute and the Wallabies hope the cautious approach to the teen’s comeback will pay off after his successful Test debut.
Petaia has had a meteoric rise in rugby but the lead-in to his ultimate debut has been marred by injuries, with two hamstring and a foot injury in the past 12 months.
Before making his Test debut against Uruguay, Queensland back had played just 80 minutes in club rugby since February and no Super Rugby since February, leaving him somewhat short of a high-level hitout.
With that in mind, the Wallabies set Petaia the limit of playing just a half of rugby in his return - a half that ultimately showed fans more than a glimpse of his promise - and they stuck to that.
Wallabies strength and conditioning coach Brad Harrington said they wanted to ensure they took Petaia’s return slowly, to ensure he didn’t have another frustrating setback.
"Whether he was coming back into Test matches or whether he's coming back into a Super Rugby or club game, first game back there's always discussions around how to build that volume and game time back up so we thought that (playing 40 (minutes) was the smartest option and we want to hope we get pay from that going forward," he said.
Though he might seem a spritely 19-year-old, the risk of reinjuring his hamstring or injuring another part of his body is a real one, Harrington said.
“Just because a lack of game time, over-reaching and re-injury, whether it be from a different injury because he's fatiguing under the pressure of the game or whether we've just pushed that injury a little bit too far, having not put it in game simulation or game situation.
“More time, more intense game time he gets, the less risk we'll have.
“It's just about balancing risk and getting a result and the outcome.”
Now that he has 40 minutes ticked off, the ceiling for Petaia will continue to rise but Harrington said they were yet to set the next target down for the teen.
“It's hard to put a limit on it. We discussed the first game back, you can't play a full game, so what is it, is it 40, 50? and we decided on that,” he said.
“Now, we just look at how he recovers from that, how he goes in training and the selectors and coaches will look at the selection and then we'll formulate the plan going forward.
“It's hard to stick a number on it but ideally, you want to progress him back and see how he responds and just go a little bit further.”
Petaia might have played just a half and only had his first touch deep into that period but the 19-year-old showed the rugby world what he could do with a try and a crucial assist in the clash.
Flyhalf Christian Lealiifano, who himself got through his first 80-minute Test performance in three years last weekend, said Petaia was “outstanding” in his first Wallabies game.
“Outstanding hey?,” he said.
“It’s been unreal to see his growth and his rise in rugby.
‘Super talent and I think the world's going to see much more of him. Definitely excited to be training alongside him and seeing his day-to-day.
“He's a young kid that backs himself a lot and what I've loved is his resilience. He's had a lot of injury throughout and the belief that everyone's had in him but for him to back himself and believe in himself that he can be here and he didn't look out of place at all, he was exciting every time he touched the footy so hopefully we can get him some more when he gets his chance.”
Australia also took a cautious approach with a James O’Connor concern on Saturday, withdrawing the back in a late change after he pulled up sore from a cork.
O’Connor is expected to train fully this week and will be available for selection against Georgia, Harrington said.
The Wallabies take on Georgia on Friday October 11 at Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, kicking off at 7:15pm local, 9:15pm AEDT, LIVE on Foxtel, Network Ten and via RUGBY.com.au RADIO, Rugby Xplorer and Amazon Alexa.
