Australia captain Rocky Elsom believes Quade Cooper will be okay to face South Africa.
Skipper plays down fears over star fly-half
Australia captain Rocky Elsom believes playmaker Quade Cooper will overcome illness in time for Saturday's Tri-Nations opener against South Africa in Sydney.
Cooper was unable to join his team-mates for the captain's run at St Joseph's College after coming down with a bout of gastritis.
Winger James O'Connor and full-back Kurtley Beale both slotted in at fly-half during the session while the Reds superstar was confined to his room.
Matt Giteau, who was controversially omitted from the 22, did not train with the squad and has not been placed on standby for Cooper.
While the Cooper's absence from the session was far from ideal, Elsom played down the disruption and declared the No.10 a definite starter.
"I think he'll be all right," Elsom said.
"I think it was probably a good move not to train but I think he'll be fine tomorrow.
"It was all right (not having him at training), you've got to be able to deal with that and if he's not feeling that well then it's best he just gets better and feels better tomorrow."
Slower
Elsom also has no concerns over the state of the ANZ Stadium surface and is confident his side can adapt to the wet conditions after around 200 millimetres of rain fell on Sydney over the past three days.
The venue for Saturday's Test will also host the Bulldogs-Eels NRL clash on Friday.
"I'm not too concerned about it because if it's wet it's going to be like that (cut up) anyway," he said of the pitch.
"So the game might be a little bit slower but I think if it was really badly cut up and really dry that would be more of a concern.
"We've got a game plan that we think can adapt to both (wet and dry conditions).
"Obviously if it was like it is now (heavy rain) it's not going to be as free flowing, but that's not necessarily a problem."
The Springboks have caused controversy by naming an understrength squad for the games in Australia and New Zealand, however Elsom is taking nothing for granted.
Elsom said: "We've got an idea how we think they might play...but they do a pretty good job at what they do nearly all the time so we've seen a fair bit of that in the past.
"Yeah they're physical and it's a physical game but I guess every team is physical.
"I think it's who is the most dominant on the night that counts, and if they're more physical than us or they win that battle, then they'll go a long way towards winning the match and vice versa."
