Western Force coach Michael Foley is confident Angus Cottrell will bounce back from his broken leg and become a future Wallaby.
Cottrell will miss the rest of the Super Rugby season after breaking his left leg in the dying minutes of Friday night’s 30-7 loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch.
The full extent of the injury is set to be known in the coming days.
The 24-year-old flanker wasn’t far away from a Wallabies call-up when the 32-man squad to take on France was announced last week, and Foley is confident Cottrell won’t let his broken leg dent his dreams.
“He’s feeling very disappointed and low at the moment,” Foley said.
“He’s got a lot of mates who care a lot for him. I think he’s a player of a lot of promise.
“He’ll recover well and play better again next season.
“Gus Cottrell won’t be too far away from knocking on the door at international level.”
The Force conceded two penalty tries after Sam Wykes was sin binned in the 71st minute, with the Crusaders’ powerful maul proving too hard to stop.
But Foley slammed the performance of referee Mike Fraser, who penalised the Force heavily at the breakdown.
“We weren’t good enough. They were the better side. But I thought from the refereeing perspective, there were a lot of soft options taken,” Foley said.
“I think at least one of those penalty tries (shouldn’t have been awarded).
“And a number of times throughout the breakdown area there was one side being watched and one side not.”
Despite the loss, the Force are still well placed to snare a finals berth when the competition resumes after the Test window.
The Force take on the Blues (home), Reds (home) and Brumbies (Canberra) in the final three rounds, and two wins could be enough to secure them a maiden finals berth.
The upcoming three-week break couldn’t come at a better time for the Force, who are set to welcome back scrumhalf Alby Mathewson (ankle), winger Luke Morahan (hamstring), centre Kyle Godwin (knee), No.8 Ben McCalman (groin), flanker Chris Alcock (shoulder), lock Hugh McMeniman (collar bone) and utility backs Marcel Brache (ankle) and Solomoni Rasolea (arm) for the Blues clash.
