With two legs he can finally rely on, Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell is convinced he is ready to return to Test rugby this month.
The 58-Test back has spent much of the past two years on the sidelines, but has been named in Australia’s 30-man squad for their Rugby Championship campaign.
He fought back from ankle damage to make last year’s World Cup, only to suffer a tournament-ending hamstring injury in his third appearance at the prestigious event.
More ankle issues kept him out of the majority of the Super Rugby competition, limiting him to the last four games of the NSW Waratahs’ wretched season.
With four more games of club rugby under his belt and plenty of training, Michell is convinced he is ready to resume his Test career after a 10-month break.
“In a training sense, I’m doing stuff that I haven’t been able to do since before I was injured in terms of training on the feet twice a day,” Mitchell told AAP on Wednesday.
“I haven’t got through a day like that since before my injury and, the last two camps, we’ve done three days of those back-to-back and the body is holding up fine.
“I’m able to get through the content and compete with the guys enough at tearing to give myself the confidence that physically I’m good to go.”
Mitchell was optimistic he would no longer have to favour one leg, an issue which caused the premature end of his World Cup.
“I was putting more weight through my left leg and that’s where my left hamstring fatigued and it couldn’t take the load and tore,” Mitchell said.
“It’s about balancing things out and managing it and making sure everything is in alignment and working pretty well.
“There are things that I have to manage and work on in terms of a balancing act, favouring one side so much that I start getting a little bit sore in other areas, but we’ve managed through that period now.”
While fellow wingers Joseph Tomane and Cooper Vuna are injured, Mitchell could find his way to a starting spot in the Wallabies opening Rugby Championship match – against New Zealand on August 18 – blocked by Digby Ioane and Adam Ashley-Cooper.