Prodigious teen’s World Cup dream in jeopardy

Max Jorgensen’s Super Rugby Pacific season is over and his Rugby World Cup hopes have suffered a significant blow due to injury.

The teenage sensation left the field just 10 minutes into the Waratahs’ loss to the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday.

Jorgensen was spotted with an ice pack on his knee and underwent scans on Sunday upon returning to Sydney.

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The Sydney Morning Herald reports the Waratahs have all but conceded Jorgensen will miss the forthcoming round and what finals appearances the team makes thereafter.

The significance of the medial ligament injury hasn’t yet been disclosed, casting some doubt over his Rugby World Cup ambition.

Waratahs head coach Darren Coleman labelled the injury a “freak moment” after Jorgensen slipped and was cleaned out awkwardly by Chay Fihaki.

“He was quite emotional, last night (Saturday) and this morning,” Coleman told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“Obviously the injury hurt but it’s also his first major injury in his career, and we tried to have him understand it happens to the best of them, and you will probably have a couple of them during your career. It didn’t help much.”

Jorgensen was tipped to star for the Wallabies in France this year after a breakout season with the Tahs.

He was drafted into Eddie Jones’ training camp earlier this year.

The Wallabies season gets underway in earnest in just over a month’s time when they face South Africa in Pretoria.

It’s one of five matches before the World Cup.

After South Africa, the Wallabies will host Argentina in Sydney (July 15) before back-to-back matches against the All Blacks in Melbourne (July 29) and Dunedin (August 5).

Australia play World Cup hosts France on August 27 in Paris.

Jorgensen reflects on ‘unreal’ debut

Before that, the Super Rugby Pacific season will close out with the final round of the regular season next weekend.

The Waratahs, who can’t slip from their sixth place spot on the ladder, will host Moana Pasifika on Saturday.

Who they’ll face in the quarter-finals is yet to be revealed with one of the Blues, Brumbies, or Hurricanes an option pending the results of round 15. 

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