In a significant boost for the Wallabies' Bledisloe hopes, Dave Rennie says Jordan Petaia's injury isn't "as bad as first feared" and he's expecting to have his entire squad fit and available for opening two Tests of the year against the All Blacks next month.
There were fears that Petaia - one of the Wallabies' genuine world class players - would miss the back to back fixtures in New Zealand after injurying his hip in the Super Rugby AU final.
But Rennie played down the likelihood of the star outside centre back not travelling with the Wallabies on Friday night to New Zealand.
"Jordan’s got a little bit of a hip flexor issue, but not as bad as first feared so he’ll be OK," Rennie told reporters on Wednesday.
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Petaia's not the only Wallaby under an injury cloud.
Rebels trio Dane Haylett-Petty (groin), Matt To'omua (groin) and Jordan Uelese (shoulder) were all casualties in their qualifying final loss to the Reds earlier in the month.
The loss of any of the three would be a blow, with each in strong contention to make the Wallabies' 23.
But Rennie remained optimistic they would make the plane trip to New Zealand also.
"Obviously we’ve had guys like Dane Haylett-Petty and Matt To’omua and Jordan Uelese who got injured in the semi-final and they’re still rehabbing back ,so we’ve got a handful of guys who we’re managing at the moment but they should all travel on Friday."
The Wallabies will travel to Christchurch on Friday night, where they will have to isolate from one another for the first three days of being in New Zealand.
They will have to quarantine for two weeks and not be free to roam around until 24 hours before the opening Bledisloe Test at Sky Stadium in Wellington on Sunday, October 11.
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