Gatland Q&A: On training with England and his 10/12 options

KEELAN Giles faces reconstructive knee surgery after the injury that saw him stretchered off in the Ospreys’ Guinness PRO14 encounter with the Dragons.

The talented wing left the field on the hour following a nasty collision with his opposite number Ashton Hewitt during last Friday’s game in Swansea.

The cruciate ligament injury looked a bad one at the time and so it has proved, with Giles likely to be sidelined for the rest of the season.

Ospreys’ medical performance manager Chris Towers said: “Keelan has sustained a significant knee ligament injury and will require reconstructive surgery.

“We are currently in the process of seeking expert opinion to formulate the best course of management going forward and will provide appropriate updates when necessary.”

It is a cruel blow for Giles, who was the talk of Welsh rugby last season on the strength of 14 tries, some of them spectacular, in 19 games.

He had been left out of the Wales squad for this term’s autumn internationals but the Ospreys had been pleased with his progress and felt he was pushing on with his game.

But now he faces a long-haul back to fitness.

Asked about the bumps the region picked up in their match with the Dragons, defence coach Brad Davis said: “Keelan’s the big one, with a pretty nasty knee injury.

“It’s going to take some time out of the game for him to get better.

“It’s really disappointing for the kid and we hope his rehabilitation goes well for him.

“He had a breakthrough season last term and I have 100 percent seen signs of Keelan progressing with his game.” WARREN Gatland appeared to be on something of a charm offensive as he faced the media at Wales HQ on Tuesday.

Journalists were not expecting to see him because at this stage of autumn preparation in the past it has always been one of his assistants who has faced questions.

But it soon became apparent that Gatland had a message to get across in the wake of an interview he gave to the Mail on Sunday at the weekend to publicise his upcoming diary of the Lions tour.

In the interview, Gatland mentioned a loyalty bonus he will collect if he stays until 2019 and also said people were ‘dumb’ to have praised a perceived change in style by Wales last year when, in truth, there had been no change. He also re-ignited the furore with Sean O’Brien and did a U-turn on his potential availability to lead the Lions again in South Africa in 2021.

On the loyalty bonus, Gatland admitted ‘perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned it.’ But by then he had already shifted most of the blame onto the media, saying his comments had been ‘spun around.’

This is everything that was said at the press session...