McCabe suffers setback

Brumbies and Wallaby utility back Pat McCabe’s return to Super Rugby suffered another setback on Thursday.

Making his comeback at fullback for the ACT XV against Tonga A, McCabe played just 32 minutes before he sustained a hamstring injury.

Brumbies coach Jake White will wait for results of scans on Friday before making a final call on McCabe’s availability, however, it is understood he won’t travel to South Africa unless he is able to play in both games - against the Sharks in Durban and the Stormers in Cape Town.

White said McCabe will be carefully managed and won’t be risked if he is not 100 percent as to avoid continuing injury problems.

''I'm not going to risk him now because I don't want him breaking down and then it goes the whole season,'' White told the Canberra Times.

The match at Viking Park, won 62-12 by the ACT XV, was McCabe’s first game since fracturing his C1 vertebra in the Test against France last November.

''If his neck wasn't 100 percent right we would have left him in Canberra and waited until we get back from South Africa,” White said.

''It's tough for him … it's a freak thing because this injury has nothing to do with his neck. He's been training hard and well.

''It's not a major thing, it was just one of those things.''

The Brumbies, who top the table ahead of this weekend’s derby against the Waratahs, will take a 26-man squad to South Africa when they depart on Monday.