Champion flanker David Pocock fit for major Rugby World Cup ending
Repairing David Pocock’s calf muscle hasn’t been the biggest win of his six-month break because a different part of his powerful frame needed a time-out. Jim Tucker reports.
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David Pocock’s six-month break from the huge physical jolts of his specialist position have been a bigger benefit to his neck than world rugby’s most publicised calf muscle.
The champion Wallabies flanker will make a measured comeback against Samoa in Sydney on Saturday night when 40 minutes should be the limit for the captain.
That will test his calf under some fatigue but not overdo it because it has been suggested that he played too many minutes too quickly before his second major knee injury in 2014.
The 77-Test titan has been away so long that referees are putting fresh eyes on rubbing out perpetrators of the insidious neck roll at the breakdown.
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At times, Pocock was still turning his head like a stiff 70-year-old man to start this season.
In part, it was a build-up from wrenching of his neck like the act that had All Blacks prop Owen Franks penalised during last year’s Bledisloe Cup series.
Even amateur medicos would prescribe rest and treatment as the only cure which is why this calf problem has been a godsend, in one way, so more significant damage could heal.
The All Blacks were not so privately fuming that neck rolls by Wallabies went unpunished in the Perth Test last month.
The only act that did came a week later in Auckland when Kiwi hooker Dane Coles was yellow carded for a judo-style fling on Nic White that looked far more dramatic than it was damaging.
The message was still clear for the Rugby World Cup: Flips, flings, neck hugs and rolls will reduce any team to 14 men and risk a costly loss.
Pocock has played just 138 minutes this season and no matter how taxing it was at coach Michael Cheika’s jungle training camp in New Caledonia, it was still only training.
The World Cup is a long-haul tournament.
Pocock will only be ready for a limited role as well in Australia’s World Cup opener against Fiji in Sapporo on September 21.
The crunch will be selection time for the pivotal pool clash against former world No.1 Wales in Tokyo on September 29.
Pocock should be right for a full rip-and-tear match against a team that uses breakdown proficiency as one of the major planks of their controlled game.
Pocock must play against them and that has been the long game played by Cheika for months.
Cheika arrived home from New Caledonia this week with his enhanced suntan but with the words everyone has been waiing to hear.
“Poey has got through everything on the camp and hasn’t had to be managed at all,” Cheika said.
“He has been in every situation, going for the ball, getting smashed, tackle, ball carry, chasing guys 80m to try and save a try. He has done everything there. He’s ready.”
Pocock’s trademark diligence will have him ready to give his all when the time comes at the World Cup.
Enjoy it. The next few months will be the last we see of a true Wallaby great in gold before he exits Australian rugby.
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