David Pocock set to miss Australia's Rugby Championship opener against South Africa

Australia are set to miss the services of David Pocock for the Rugby Championship opening game against South Africa in Johannesburg after failing to make sufficient recovery from a calf injury.

The 6ft flanker sustained the injury during Australia's pre-season camp in January and haven't been able to return full-fledged since then. He even decided to retire from Super Rugby where he represented Brumbies with an ambition to be fresh and fit for the World Cup later this year in Japan.

According to a report from rugby.com.au, the 31-year-old is set to be omitted from Michael Cheika's 31-man squad that will travel to South Africa for the tournament opener.

“The best thing now is to take the pressure off and actually get it right rather than continuing to do what I was doing,” Pocock said when he announced his Super Rugby retirement earlier.

“I’d be very disappointed if I never play again. It could be the case, I don’t know. But I’ll certainly be doing everything I can for it not to be the case.”

Cheika earlier said that Pocock's return will be assessed during the course of the Rugby Championship tournament that will be played between 21st July and 10th August.

The Wallabies are also placed in Pool D in the Rugby World Cup scheduled in Japan where they will compete against Wales, Georgia, Fiji and Uruguay.