Wallabies casualty ward puts Rennie under pressure

MELBOURNE : The knives are not yet out for Dave Rennie but a shocking run of injuries has left the Australia coach on shaky ground ahead of daunting tests against world champions South Africa and a resurgent New Zealand.

Wallabies fans may have hoped for results-based progress in Rennie's third season in charge but their team have now lost a home series to England, crashed to their heaviest defeat to Argentina and slumped to seventh in the world rankings.

Rennie will name his squad this week for back-to-back Rugby Championship matches against the Springboks starting in Adelaide on Aug. 27 and could welcome up to eight fit-again players back to camp.

Hookers Dave Porecki and Folau Fainga'a, and Hunter Paisami are expected to return from head knocks, along with winger Andrew Kellaway from a hamstring injury.

Two of the Wallabies' most important players in flyhalf Quade Cooper and centre Samu Kerevi are nursing long-term injuries, though, and there is no timeline for captain Michael Hooper's return after his sudden withdrawal for wellbeing issues.

While a virtually second-string Wallabies team rallied bravely to beat the Pumas in Mendoza, the wheels fell off in San Juan last Saturday after further late withdrawals.

Apart from disrupting momentum, the long injury list has put the team's training methods under the microscope.

Cooper injured his calf warming up for the first test against England in July after Kellaway and two other team mates broke down with soft tissue injuries at training in the lead-up.

Paisami, Porecki and Fainga'a all suffered head knocks at training in the week of the San Juan test.

"With the soft tissue stuff, the guys were coming out of Super Rugby seasons and the intensity of training coming into Wallabies