Wallaby Latham was forced from the field with a hamstring injury midway through the second half of Saturday’s narrow 20-17 defeat by the Crusaders, but remains hopeful of recovering in time to face the defending Super 12 champions.

Latham and outside centre Junior Pelesasa are the Reds’ only injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Blues.

"I won’t train today [Monday], but I hope to do some controlled running on Tuesday and be able to run properly with the team on Wednesday," said Latham.

"I have been getting intensive physio and it appears to be working. I don’t want to miss this game and the way things are progressing I don’t think I will."

Pelesasa has also spent a lot of the last 48 hours in the physio room after picking up a chest injury against the Crusaders.

"It’s pretty sore but if it was up to me then I would play," he said. "I wasn’t able to sleep much on Saturday night but I had a good night last night and things are definitely easing."

The team to play the Blues is likely to be named on Wednesday morning.

The injured players are keen to get back onto the playing field, especially after the disappointment of the loss against the Crusaders.

"It’s certainly a game I don’t want to miss," Latham said of the encounter with the Blues. "We are all bitterly disappointed to have lost to the Crusaders, especially as we were 17-6 ahead. The team is really hurting this morning and eager to bounce back straight away."

Latham’s view - on the loss to the Crusaders - is shared by Wallaby openside David Croft, who had an outstanding game against the four-time Super 12 champions.

"Those sorts of defeats are very hard to take, especially as we led for so long," he said. "People have written us off all year, and I suppose in the end we did lose, but we showed that this team is more than capable of making the finals and competing against the very best."

Reds coach Jeff Miller hopes his young team would learn from such a heart-breaking loss: "It was very disappointing to lose like that. I thought our enthusiasm was good, it’s just our execution which lets us down at crucial moments."

The Blues, the Reds’ opponents this weekend, have their fair-share of injuries, with star first five-eighth Carlos Spencer ruled out for at least a month with a broken jaw.

Before Friday’s loss to the Chiefs, they had already lost star Fijian winger Rupeni Caucaunibuca, tighthead prop Kees Meeuws and back-up first five-eighth Tasesa Lavea to injury.

During the match Spencer, captain and No.8 Xavier Rush, wing Joe Rokocoko (who replaced Caucaunibuca), prop Greg Feek and back rower Justin Collins were added to the injury-list.

Scrum-half Steve Devine, who sat on the bench against the Chiefs, is still being troubled by a shoulder injury.

Some would say that the Blues are there for the taking, but the Reds would certainly need Latham’s attacking abilities in order to have a chance of causing an upset.

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