Mark Chisholm could boost the Wallabies © Getty Images

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Players/Officials: Mark Chisholm | Robbie Deans | Tatafu Polota-Nau

Tournaments/Tours: Australia tour

Teams: Australia

Australia could receive two surprise boosts for their November tour as senior forwards Tatafu Polota-Nau and Mark Chisholm are nearing a return to action.

Waratahs hooker Polota-Nau has been a long-term absentee with an ankle problem while Chisholm was originally thought to be a certain loss after he dislocated a knee-cap on club duty for Randwick in the Shute Shield at the end of September.

Wallabies boss Robbie Deans is cautiously optimistic that one or both may be fit to tour, admitting that his team-mates had dubbed Brumbies second-rower Chisholm 'Lazarus' following his appearance at their pre-tour training camp.

''Tatafu is going well and is confident about his ankle, but we haven't followed through on that yet,'' Deans told The Sydney Morning Herald. ''Still, things are going well for him. With Mark, the other players are calling him Lazarus, and he's done well to get back to training. He's a possibility.''

Chisholm was bullish about his chances and hopes to prove his fitness next week come 'go time'. Australia kick off their tour against New Zealand in Hong Kong on October 30 before Tests against England, Wales, France and Italy and midweek matches with Leicester and Munster.

"I'm very hopeful actually, I'm very confident," he told AAP. "I'm putting my best foot forward and I guess it's up to the selectors whether they take me or knock me back.

"I'm as well as can be expected, I'm pretty happy with it. I'm training and running and the run went well today so we'll just see what happens from here. I'm just starting off slowly, with a couple of kilometres here and there and a day on, day off sort of thing. Next week will be go time.

"[If I miss out] it will be frustrating, but also it will give me a chance if I do miss it to have a full pre-season with the Brumbies and go into next year with all the work under my belt."