Warburton woe as he misses the All Blacks
SAM WARBURTON has been cruelly denied another shot at the All Blacks this year, as the man who led the Lions to an epic series draw in New Zealand faces four months out after neck surgery.
The Wales captain, whose career has been relentlessly plagued by a catalogue of injury setbacks, is once again gearing up for an extended, frustrating period of rest and rehabilitation.
Warburton has yet to make an appearance for Cardiff Blues this season and it was thought he might have returned for the Pro14 visit of Glasgow Warriors this Saturday.
But the club confirmed yesterday that their acclaimed flanker had ‘exacerbated’ a recurring neck problem in training, and requires an operation.
Although the 28-year-old has already played in 74 Tests for his country, he has missed out on countless others and will now will be absent from Wales’ autumn series against Australia, Georgia, New Zealand and South Africa.
In light of events in Auckland and Wellington this summer, Warburton would have especially relished another chance to take on the world champion All Blacks, but will now have to settle for returning to fitness in time for the Six Nations early next year.
‘It’s a major blow for all concerned, for Cardiff Blues and Wales,’ said his regional head coach Danny Wilson yesterday. ‘We all hoped he would be back playing soon. It is a long-standing issue. He gets pain and discomfort on and off.
‘The feeling was that two months off would help it settle completely. He came back feeling confident and went through the protocols when he came back to training, but during the contact element it began to flare up again.
‘We looked into it, and it has led to where we are. He is obviously extremely frustrated.’
Already reeling from the loss of Warburton, Cardiff need to bounce back from opening league defeats to Edinburgh and Leinster.
By contrast, this weekend’s opponents Glasgow will be seeking a third straight Pro14 victory, but Warriors assistant head coach Jason O’Halloran has warned Dave Rennie’s men they can’t afford to be complacent at Arms Park.
‘I think they (Cardiff) will be a very desperate side,’ said the Kiwi. ‘We’ll probably be favourites in supporters’ eyes, but we don’t want to get complacent. If you take your eye off the ball in games like this you get knocked over.
‘Their fans will be expecting a big effort after a couple of losses. They’ll be desperate to deliver so that will bring a massive amount of physicality to their game.
‘We need to match that and be a lot more accurate with our skills so we can maintain the ball for longer periods and dictate the pace of the game.
‘There’s quality amongst that Cardiff group, with experienced guys like Liam Williams. Ray LeeLo and Matthew Morgan are real talents, too. If you don’t respect them they can make you look silly.’
Despite Glasgow’s 31-10 win over Ospreys at Scotstoun on Saturday, O’Halloran wasn’t altogether satisfied with the performance.
‘I wasn’t happy because I didn’t think we held the ball long enough to apply the pressure we wanted,’ he said.
‘Ultimately our four tries were all from turnovers. We need to be better at working through multiple phases and show a bit more patience in attack and look after the ball. The quality of our carry and clean-out were probably the two things that really inhibited our attack from being more accurate.’