Wallabies coach Michael Cheika says Reds backrower Liam Wright has not been picked simply as an insurance policy for David Pocock, saying he would have no hesitation in throwing the flanker into the Ellis Park cauldron on debut.
Cheika was bullish about Pocock's chances of playing in the World Cup - rating him better than a "50-50" chance - despite not being considered for the 34-man Wallabies squad named on Thursday for the opening Rugby Championship Test against the Springboks.
The uncapped Wright was invited into camp in May but left with plenty of feedback on where he needed to improve if he was any chance of making the World Cup squad.
What Cheika saw was an improvement that left him considering the Reds no.7 as "one of the best players going around" and one that has forced his way into the opening squad of the season on form alone.
Pocock has worked around the clock on his calf since injuring it at the start of the year and sacrificed his Super Rugby season in a bid to play at the World Cup.
And his chances have improved recently.
"I'd like to think that he's a better chance than (50-50) we're always very confident about that," Cheika said.
"But this is (Wright's) chance to have a go.
"He's got a big future here in the game, there's no doubt about it.
"We've picked two teams (to travel to South Africa) and we wanted a second openside and Liam's the guy.
"The back half of the year, I think he's been one of the best players going around.
"He's been aggressive, on the ball, he's got good lineout - he's got some different strings to is bow for an openside, but he's an option to steal ball from the ground as well as having a big engine and big workrate."
WALLABIES SQUAD FOR RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP OPENER
Uncapped backrowers Wright and Brumby Rob Valetini were named in the top 34, with Cheika wanting to see both in the Test arena.
"We've done a lot of prep work in that domain, around the last few years, about getting young players exposed to senior footy and now, we want to see those players in the Test environment wherever possible," he said.
"If you look at Liam, we had a camp in May and he only came in for a day of that and we had a word to him about a couple of things that we thought he needed to bring in the back half of the season, in those last four or five games, that would get him a show and back into the squad.
"We felt he did. And then on the back of what he's delivered over the last couple of weeks as well, there's a real opportunity for him, and a real opportunity for us, to get him involved.
"In May, he was probably a fair way away from that and he took on board the things and got himself sorted and got into the squad."
While Pocock and lock Adam Coleman (shoulder) were both unavailable for selection, Cheika said he had a strong group of backrowers whose attributes were "complementary".
"Wright (is a) worker, the amount of steals he's getting on the ground, he's been tireless in his workrate and effort," Cheika said.
"And then you've got guys like (Rob) Valetini, Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, (Jack) Dempsey, they're powerful, dynamic backrowers - (Isi) Naisarani in there as well - so we're had a couple of additions from last year to the backrow.
"Jones as well, who can flick between lock and the backrow. And Naisarani as well, who's now qualified to represent Australia, so the competition heats up and that's still with Pocock missing and Coleman missing with injury as well, so it's good."
Cheika believes Pocock will be fit to play at least some of the Rugby Championship after "turning a corner" in his rehab recently.
"Pocock's progressing nicely. We'll just get to the next step, I think the next milestone for him is his calf, it's been a bit of a battle but he looks like he's turned a bit of a corner," he said.
"So we're positive about having him back at some stage of the Rugby Championship but as opposed to putting a date on it, we'll just wait until the next milestone and go from there."
The Wallabies take on South Africa on Saturday July 20 at Ellis Park Johannesburg, kicking off on Sunday July 21 at 1:05am AEST, LIVE on FOX SPORTS and Kayo Sports.
