Injury-prone Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell faces a possible year out of rugby after rupturing an ankle tendon in their 22-0 Bledisloe Cup loss to the All Blacks at Eden Park at the weekend.
Mitchell was making his first test start in 11 months in Auckland but is now sweating on his future after re-injuring the same tendon which sidelined him for much of 2011.
Mitchell recovered in time to make last year's World Cup, only for his participation in the tournament was cut short by a hamstring problem.
Meanwhile Wallabies first five Quade Cooper will be available for their next match despite confirmation that he's been suffering from a small fracture in the tibia in his leg.
The injury, which was revealed by scans, was aggravated at Eden Park.... it had only caused minor discomfort previously and had not shown up on previous scans.
While the injury will be closely monitored, Wallabies medical staff anticipate that it will settle quickly, and it isn't expected to impact on Cooper's availability for Australia's defence of the Nelson Mandela Challenge Plate, which starts when they take on South Africa in the home leg of that series in Perth on September 8th.
Cooper will assemble with the other members of the 30-man squad in Perth this Sunday in preparation for that game.
