Quade Cooper's Rugby World Cup hopes hang by a thread after he suffered his second serious shoulder injury of the season, the Queensland Reds fly-half sidelined for another eight weeks after he fractured his right shoulder blade in the loss to Melbourne Reds at AAMI Park on Friday.

Cooper, who returned to action only the previous weekend, after fracturing his left shoulder in pre-season, sustained the injury making a tackle in the second half in Melbourne. He also missed a substantial part of the 2014 campaign with a serious shoulder injury.

The news got worse for the Reds, who slipped to their sixth defeat in seven starts of an injury-blighted campaign, with No.8 Schatz sidelined for four weeks after rupturing an elbow tendon.

Quade Cooper left the field in the 54th minute © Getty Images

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The Reds head to Johannesburg on Sunday, and head coach Richard Graham said he would take the next 24 hours to make a decision about who would join the 27-man squad for the tour.

"I will have a meeting with the coaching staff about what balance we need to achieve within the squad, but the benefit we do have is we have had a number of younger players gain further experience at Super Rugby level earlier this season," Graham said in a statement. "After building on a good foundation from last week, it's disappointing to lose the two boys ahead of an important tour.

"The playing group showed incredible resolve to play out 60 minutes of last night's match with just 14 men and still be a shot at winning the match, so I have no doubt they'll take a similar approach to this set back. All we need to worry about is the things we can control - and that is our attitude, preparation and performance."