A "massively relieved" Mat Rogers will play in the Waratahs' season-opening Super 12 rugby game against the Chiefs at Aussie Stadium on Friday after overcoming a hip injury.

The fullback sustained the injury during a training warm-up on Wednesday and feared the worst as a scan showed a muscle tear.

But Rogers, who largely concentrated on sprint work and kicking as his teammates trained this evening, ran freely and was given the OK to start.

"The initial pain came from the trauma of that small tear but it settled down overnight so it's sweet," he said.

"Now I just want to get on the field and play. It has been a pretty long pre-season for us - our dry form has been good and hopefully we can carry on from there."

Rogers' availability also came as a relief to coach Ewen McKenzie who was spared a last minute backline re-shuffle.

"I was certainly pleased to see him out there - we hadn't planned to have him run or kick but he was doing that so he was ahead of where we thought he'd be," McKenzie said.

Rogers was the pivotal player in NSW's superb early run in 2004, the Waratahs' sharp drop in form and ultimate failure to make the semifinals closely linked to the mid season ankle injury that ruled him out of the rest of the competition.

He hasn't had the greatest of injury runs since joining the code from rugby league in 2002 and was hopeful of reversing that trend in 2005.

"I think I broke a mirror, walked under a ladder and killed a black cat on the way to training," he said.

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