It’s looking increasingly likely that Max Jorgensen will have to wait four more years to make his Rugby World Cup debut.
The 18-year-old has been a star of this year’s Super Rugby Pacific season for the NSW Waratahs, but a knee injury in the second-to-last round ended his campaign early.
After his side’s bruising loss to the Crusaders, scans found Jorgensen had suffered a grade three rupture of his MCL and an ACL strain.
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Speaking on Stan Sport’s Rugby Heaven, former Wallabies stars Tim Horan and Morgan Turinui weighed in on Jorgensen’s prognosis.
“He’s ruptured his medial ligament, so that’s at least eight weeks if there’s no operation there,” said Horan.
“He’s got a strain on his anterior cruciate ligament, that’s going to take some time. That’s at least 10 to 12 weeks.
“I wouldn’t rush Max Jorgensen back, just take his time.”
Turinui downplayed Jorgensen’s chances of contesting the World Cup unless head coach Eddie Jones is happy to take a “sight unseen” approach into the group stages.
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“If a guy like Nathan Gibbs (sports physician) looks after that they’ll get him back pretty quick – 10 weeks is best case possible. As you say, ACL is largely intact,” Turinui explained.
“I don’t think you can take him,” he added when asked if Jorgensen was a chance of making the flight to France.
“Nope. Let him get it right. What is it? June, July, August, it’s the 1st of September, you’re on the plane, you’re not playing the French warm-up game in August, you maybe get picked sight unseen.
“His career is going to be long if we take care of him.”
The loss of Jorgensen is a blow for the Wallabies who had the teenage sensation tipped to be a staple of the backline.
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Horan was with Turinui in calling for a cautious approach to Jorgensen to maximise his longevity.
“Without the knee injury, he would have been on the plane, but now I just don’t think you can take him,” said Horan.
“You can’t rush a kid who’s 18 with a knee injury like that.”
Jorgensen’s Waratahs will host Moana Pasifika in Sydney on Saturday at 7.35pm (AEST).
The Waratahs cannot fall from sixth in the standings and will face one of either the Blues, Brumbies or Hurricanes, pending round 15 results.
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