Injured Wallabies prop Allan Alaalatoa is confident he will be fit to face South Africa next month - and has not given up hope of a return to Super Rugby Pacific action.
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The ACT Brumbies skipper tweaked his left calf against the Chiefs last weekend and will miss Friday night's clash with Melbourne but said speculation the injury could end his World Cup hopes was overblown.
Asked if featuring in Australia's Rugby Championship clash against South Africa in Pretoria on July 9 was a realistic aim, Alaalatoa said: "For sure, but for me mostly the target is a couple of weeks."
The Brumbies are likely to play next Saturday in a Super Rugby quarter-final, with Alaalatoa not ruling out taking the field.
"Soft-tissue injuries are all dependent ... on the individual and how they heal, and I'm already ahead of where I'm meant to be," he said on Thursday.
"It was in the scrum, and that's my core role. If I'm going to push it, I'm going to make sure I'm right to do the job.
"The tests I'm doing at the moment are about seeing how I feel in those positions when I'm loading.
"Everything I've done so far has been good but in saying that it's only been a couple of days."
If fit, the 64-cap Wallaby would be one of the first names on Eddie Jones' team sheet for the Springboks showdown but trying to deliver his club side some breakthrough silverware is top of Alaalatoa's agenda.
He said he would need to balance his desire to return as quickly as possible with a long-term view, with the Rugby World Cup kicking off in 100 days.
"I was just shattered to miss the rest of (last Saturday's) game, and then I had a little thought when I was sitting there on possibly missing the rest of the Super campaign," Alaalatoa said.
"That emotion there was devastation ... but everything so far has been positive, so I can continue to tick the boxes and keep pushing forward.
"It's more just being in the moment and being present, but also making sure that I'm not making stupid decisions.
"There's a bit of honesty towards that and I'm making sure when I do those tests I'm honest with how I feel, so I'm not a liability to the team."
The Brumbies would lock in a top-four finish with victory against the Rebels, although they would only move up to third if the Blues fail to beat the Highlanders.
Defeat would leave Australia's highest-ranked side needing the fifth-placed Hurricanes to lose to the Crusaders to ensure the Brumbies are not travelling to New Zealand in the first week of finals.
Australian Associated Press
