Quade Cooper faces a race against time to make Rugby World Cup 2023

The Wallabies have produced an inspirational comeback to defeat Argentina 41-26 in Mendoza but the victory looks to have come at high cost with Quade Cooper sustaining another injury blow

Dave Rennie’s men survived a strong start from Argentina to come away with the win following a dominant second-half performance. Argentina opened up a 19-10 lead at the interval, helped by an early try from Pablo Matera and the boot of fly-half Emiliano Boffelli. Australia fought back in the second half to secure a 41-26 victory with tries from Fraser McReight, Folau Fainga'a and Len Ikitau.

Australia, already without captain Michael Hooper after he returned home due to not feeling in the right mindset to play, were dealt a setback early in the second half when Cooper - who missed recent series defeat to England because of injury - went down with a leg poblem and had to be helped off the field.

Cooper is set to be ruled out for the remainder of the Rugby Championship but it could be even worse news for Wallabies' fans as the flyhalf is now in doubt for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

It is believed that Cooper ruptured his Achilles which may take a full year or more to recover from. He is likely to be sidelined for at least nine months.

He suffered the injury when slipping over early in the second half.

His injury adds to the Wallabies' woes with backs Samu Kerevi, Tom Banks and Andrew Kellaway all sidelined.

"We've had a reasonable run of injuries, haven't we?" Rennie told journalists, before the extent of Cooper's injury was revealed.

"I thought we were far more clinical and I'm happy with how we finished. We've got more in us but I'm really happy with the character we showed after late changes and losing a key guy within the game.

"That's the thing about this group. They have a lot of character and courage and they stood up."