Match-like intensity in training - and the odd 80-metre try-saver - has convinced Michael Cheika that David Pocock is “100 per cent” fit and ready for a return Test match against Samoa.
But Cheika is being far more opaque about whether - after a successful comeback - he’ll re-unite Pocock and Wallabies skipper Michael Hooper when the World Cup kicks off against Fiji two weeks later.
"If I knew, I probably wouldn’t tell you,” Cheika joked on Thursday.
"And if I didn’t know, I probably wouldn’t tell you either. So there you go."
The Wallabies arrived back in Sydney on Thursday after a 10-day camp in Noumea, and ahead of their final pre-World Cup Test match against Samoa at Bankwest Stadium.
The skipper of the side will be Pocock, who is making his long-awaited return from a chronic calf injury that has sidelined him since March 8.
The champion flanker endured several aborted comebacks for the Brumbies, before withdrawing from Super Rugby to focus on a slower-paced rehab and eventual return for the Wallabies.
After training fully with the side for the last month, Pocock was close to playing against New Zealand but with a few weeks extra, Cheika said he had no doubts the no.7 was now physically ready for Test rugby.
"Definitely, to play the game, he is 100 per cent fit, without a doubt,” Cheika said.
"Like I have said before, the last game was pretty close but we just decided we would take our time and wait a little longer. He has got through everything on the camp and hasn’t had to be managed at all. He is ready to go definitely.
"I don’t think he will play a full match. He hasn’t played for a fair while. But we’ll see how it goes.”
Cheika said Pocock had not been spared from any of the training in Noumea and though the 31-year-old hasn’t played for 183 days, the intensity of training had provided a very close simulation.
“(We) pretty much played games at training - you couldn’t get much closer to the footy than some of the stuff we have been doing,” Cheika said.
"He has been in every situation, going for the ball, getting smashed, tackle, ball carry, chasing guys 80 metres to try and save a try. He has done everything there, he’s ready.”
With Hooper one of a sizeable number of regular starters resting for the game, Pocock was an obviously choice to make captain, said Cheika.
"They are sort of straight swaps aren’t they, Michael and David?” Cheika said.
"They have great experience. One can take the other’s place and immediately flip into a captaincy role, because they’ve both done it before.”
What happens when both are potentially available for the World Cup opener on September 21 remains to be seen.
At the 2015 World Cup, Cheika used the “Pooper” combination of Pocock and Hooper together in the back row to great effect, and acclaim. But in the years since, the combination has not yielded the same impact and the Wallabies’ lineout has tended to suffer without four genuine jumpers.
In 2019, the Wallabies’ back row has contained Isi Naisarani and Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, and the vastly improved lineout was statistically the best in the Rugby Championship.
Asked if he’d used Pocock and Hooper together, Cheika said: "I may, I may not. That’s not really an answer. But we will take a look at it when the time comes, depending on whether we want the two lads together or if we want to play a more traditional back row."
Cheika explained the selection of Wallabies team to take on Samoa, minus a long list of starters and including six players who aren’t even going to the World Cup.
It will mean many of the top team won’t have played for over a month when they run out in the World Cup opener but Cheika said they used their 2015 experience to plan for some players to use the break to load up on conditioning instead.
"There’s double-edge there. There’s a bit about … a lot of players in this team that have selection opportunities ahead of them, for the first match. And to give them the right opportunity, as a lot of them haven’t had that at this stage, to put their hand up to be selected,” Cheika said.
"And I think with the training we’ve done, off the back of seasons they’ve had, we felt we can time that right for some of the players who aren’t going to play between the last Bledisloe and the first World Cup match.
"We had experience with this last time and we have tried to learn from that and make the right calls for who needs to … prepare and who needs to go.
"Some positions, some guys got different type of training over there. They were specifically focussed on to get fitter, to give them a physical preparation as opposed to a footy preparation, for this week. These guys know how to play footy. Maybe that took a couple of the options out for a few guys, because of the load we put into them.
"And also, that crew of players, there’s 31 going but there’s a group who will be staying behind on the ready. They need to be in sync with what we’re doing as well.”
Cheika said there was a rough idea about what the Wallabies team against Fiji would be but Saturday’s Test against Samoa would still inform the selection panel’s choices.
Anticipating a physical encounter, Cheika said the Samoan clash would be “exactly what we need going into a World Cup”, and he wants to use superior fitness to play the game at a breakneck tempo.
Though it’s something of a makeshift team, Cheika pointed to the fact there are three Test centurions in the side - Sekope Kepu, Will Genia and Adam Ashley-Cooper. There are two more in the 90s, and ten in total with over 50 caps.
So it’s a vastly experienced team. But after their gruelling camp, Cheika admitted the Wallabies players would be entering the match with heavier legs than a usual match week.
"We have trained hard yeah. I am not going to pre-empt anything as to how they’re feeling,” Cheika said.
"I think they’ll be feeling good but ... we have trained hard. So we have had a specific plan we wanted to follow, the athletic trainers have done a good job in managing that.
"Recovery has been a big focus after every session as well. But they’ll be ready to play on Saturday no doubt about that.”
Tevita Kuridrani wasn't considered for selection due to a hamstring "niggle" but is expected to back into full training next week, said Cheika.
The Wallabies take on Samoa at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday at 7.30pm. LIVE coverage on Foxtel, Kayo Sports, Network Ten and RUGBY.com.au Radio.
