Davies set to be ruled out for entire season
WALES and British and Irish Lions centre Jonathan Davies is unlikely to play again this season as he continues his recovery from a serious foot injury.
Davies, the Lions’ player of the series against New Zealand last summer, suffered the blow at the end of Wales’ clash with Australia last November, sustaining major damage that required surgery.
The initial prognosis was that Davies would be out for around six months, leaving him with a chance of making his return at the end of the campaign.
But that now appears highly unlikely, with the 29-year-old Scarlet set to be given the summer to recover fully, especially with the 2019 Rugby World Cup looming large on the horizon.
Wales do play two Tests in Argentina in June, and possibly a warm-up against the Springboks in the US, but Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac believes Davies would be better served spending the summer at home.
“Jon will be champing at the bit to get back on the field as soon as possible, but from a coaching point of view, with a serious injury like that, we plan not to have him (this season),” said Pivac.
“If we get him it will be a bonus, from our point of view, we don’t expect to see him. He is progressing, but it is one of those injuries that takes a long time to heal and if you come back too soon, redo it, it can be disastrous.
“We have to be very careful to get him back to 100 percent healed and fully fit before he even contemplates taking the field.
“The smart money says to get it right and have a full pre-season, but we will see what happens before now and then. It was a nasty injury.”
Davies’ Wales team-mate Jake Ball is another on the treatment table having dislocated his shoulder against the All Blacks a fortnight after Davies’ setback.
And although the bearded second row is expected to make his return to action this term, it is looking increasingly unlikely that he will be ready for the Scarlets’ European Champions Cup quarter-final against La Rochelle on Easter weekend.
Meanwhile, Ireland, Wales’ next Six Nations opponents, will be without centre Robbie Henshaw for the rest of the campaign after the Lions centre had surgery on the shoulder injury suffered while scoring a try against Italy last weekend in Rome.
Ireland remain hopeful, however, that prop Tadhg Furlong can shake off a hamstring issue and number eight Jack Conan a shoulder complaint in time for the Dublin clash with Wales on February 24.
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