Two years on from his injury, Jenkins edges towards a comeback
A date has finally been pencilled in for Ellis Jenkins’ long-awaited return to rugby after two years out of the game.
It was on November 24, 2018, that the back rower sustained a horrendous knee injury right at the end of a man-of-the-match display for Wales against South Africa at the Principality Stadium. It was among the most upsetting sights the iconic venue has ever witnessed.
He has had to undergo three operations and has suffered a number of setbacks along the way in his bid to get back playing.
But now there is light at the end of the tunnel for the 27-year-old.
He had made big strides forward in the past couple of weeks and the plan is for him to make his comeback in an A-team fixture next month.
“Ellis is getting closer every week,” said Blues head coach John Mulvill.
“It was great to see him in his rugby kit today on the pitch at Pentwyn.
“He is out and about running, he was passing and doing a little bit of breakdown work, going through some return-to-contact drills. So he’s not far away.
“It’s another step in the right direction for him.
“He struggled for quite a while, but his improvement over the last couple of weeks has been excellent.
“We hope to see him with the main squad in full training sessions towards the end of this month.
“Then, if he is up and training, we look for some game-time in December.
“If the RFC were on, he would play 20 minutes off the bench for them. If we have an A game between now and then, he might get 20 minutes in there.
“I think it would a bit of a big ask to throw someone who hasn’t played for two years straight into a PRO14 or European game.
“We hope to have an A team fixture, possibly against the Ospreys, on Monday, November 30. That may be a bit too early for him, but then we are looking to have another one mid-December which could serve us really well.
“We will have a plan in place and we are really looking forward to seeing Ellis back on the pitch.
“He’s been in and around our environment for the last two or three weeks and he was quite vocal in a meeting last week. That’s the leadership quality we have probably missed from him.”
The 11-cap Jenkins suffered damage to his anterior cruciate ligaments, medial collateral ligaments and tendons at a ruck in the dying seconds of the Springboks match.
It was a catastrophic injury, which has proved hugely challenging to recover from.
Mulvihill has nothing but admiration for the way the flanker has dealt with his situation.
“He would have had some dark days early on, with a few setbacks,” said the Aussie.
“But he’s one of the most resilient players I have ever coached.
“For a young man, he’s got a good deal of patience as well.
“I think he’s had injuries in the past where he’s probably pushed himself to come back quicker.
“We are talking about a player who was trying to rush back to play at the World Cup and that World Cup was 2019.
“He’s had some setbacks that, if he was any less of a man, he may not still be playing with us.
“He is certainly resilient. He works really hard, he’s intelligent, asks all the questions of the medics and the specialists to know what he can and can’t do.
“He knows his body, so he knows when to push and when to hold back.
“He’s now on the pitch. It’s taken us nearly two years to get on the pitch.
“It’s now how we grade that return back to semi-contact, contact and then some live before we put him into a game.”
Meanwhile, Wales No.9 Tomos Williams is back training following his shoulder injury and should be ready to return against Leinster next week