Kiss upbeat, but still no time-line on Payne return to action

LES KISS remains unable to provide a time-line for

Jared Payne’s return to action but the Ulster coach (above) said he is upbeat about the Ireland star’s prospects.

Payne has not played since featuring for the Lions against the Chiefs on June 20. He complained of headaches after that game which continued after he was cleared of concussion.

He was diagnosed with migraines and left the touring squad early to remain in Wellington, before returning to Ireland to seek further treatment.

The 32-year-old is out of contract with the IRFU at the end of the season which further complicates matters.

He has been able to participate in some training and has played a role in the Ulster leadership group, but Kiss would love to be able to pick him to play.

However, as of yet he is unable to say if and when that will happen.

“The welfare of the players is paramount and that’s been our focus,” he said.

“Certainly, you’d imagine that type of thing is not the easiest thing for any player to go through, even someone of his experience.

TORRID

“He’s been through a pretty torrid time with the kidney and then the constant doubts on the Lions tour and now he’s come back with this situation.

“He’s been upbeat, we’ve been positive and optimistic internally. He’s getting the right care. He is seeing the right people. We are going through a lot of different ideas and methods to get to the root of it.

“We’re very close to it now and he is in as good a space as he has been for a long time. We are optimistic it will be sooner rather than later. You hate to put time-lines around this and I know people are always looking for a time-line.

“Something like this, I don’t think that’s appropriate. We take this week by week but each week are seeing more progress and more recently we’ve seen significant progress.

“So we want to be optimistic but from the medical side, from a rugby perspective it’s player welfare first. He has a young child that has just come along, his second one.

“He gets out on the training paddock and he trains like everyone else. He’s doing more and more contact so the trajectory is in the right way.

“He’s a wonderful human being, he has a young family. He is so important to Ulster. He’s important to Irish rugby. He wants to get out and play. That’s our responsibility and our duty. And we’ll get there.”