Australia coach Ewen McKenzie admits he isn’t concerned by the fitness of Adam Ashley-Cooper after naming a 28-man touring squad for the next stage of their Rugby Championship campaign.
The 30-year-old missed the Wallabies’ latest 32-25 defeat of Argentina on the Gold Coast with a nerve compression injury as they moved to two wins, one loss and one draw from their four games.
However vice-captain Ashley-Cooper has returned to the squad that will assemble in Sydney before flying to South Africa to face the Springboks on September 27 and then Argentina on October 4.
Scrum-half Will Genia, prop Benn Robinson and hooker Saia Fainga'a have also been added and coach McKenzie is fully confident that Ashley-Cooper will be 100 per cent ready to play.
"It's pleasing to be able to bring in some experienced guys for what will be an extremely challenging tour of South Africa and Argentina," said McKenzie.
"We took a conservative approach with Adam's injury in our most recent Test against Argentina, and we're confident the additional week off will serve him well going into the next stage of our campaign.
"Collectively, we add almost 250 games of Test experience to our squad through the inclusion of Adam, Will, Benn and Saia. They've all had good exposure to our program this year, so we expect them to be able to contribute immediately when we get into camp."
