Wales to pay Anscombe wages over long absence
THE Welsh Rugby Union will ensure the Ospreys are not out of pocket over Gareth Anscombe, with the governing body paying the injured Wales fly-half’s wages during what is set to be a lengthy time on the sidelines.
And the union will help the Welsh region in their efforts to bring in a replacement for the former Cardiff Blue as he recovers from the cruciate ligament injury he sustained during the Test against England at Twickenham last weekend.
There are fears the 28-year-old playmaker could miss the majority of the 2019-20 season.
It adds up to a direct hit on the Ospreys, robbing them of their star signing of the summer potentially for nine or 10 months.
But at least they won’t have to worry about paying Anscombe as he makes his way back, with the union looking after his salary via their compliance with World Rugby’s player insurance regulations.
The same situation applied with Bath and Taulupe Faletau after the No.8 broke a collar bone while training with Wales, and also with Cardiff Blues after Ellis Jenkins after he suffered a knee injury on Test duty against South Africa.
“All international players are 100 per cent covered when they are in camp with Wales,” said a union spokesman.
“No club will be out of pocket (in the event of an injury).”
It is likely Andy Lloyd, the WRU’s elite performance exiles manager, will help in the quest to fill the void caused by Anscombe’s injury.
The union would no doubt prefer to bring in Wales-qualified cover, but in the absence of any Welsh fly-half of suitable quality at the right price
and available right now, it may be that the Ospreys have to look beyond those boundaries.
Even then, it won’t be easy to find someone of high calibre to replace Anscombe, with pretty much every top-class No.10 attached to a club at this stage of the rugby cycle.
At yesterday’s press conference to announce the team to face England tomorrow, Wales coach Warren Gatland revealed the extent of Anscombe’s injury and denied the Wales outside-half compounded its severity by playing on.
Gatland and Wales had faced criticism from Wales legend JJ Williams for not removing the outside-half from the field immediately.
“Gareth Anscombe has done an ACL and a meniscus (cartilage) so he’s done a really good job on that,” Gatland said.
“He did it when he made the break down the sideline. It wasn’t from a tackle, he’s just stepped off his right leg. You can see the jarring on the video.
“He said to the physios he felt he had jarred his knee and stayed on thinking he could run it off. He asked the physios if he’d done any more damage and they said: ‘No, you’d already done that and it wasn’t going
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to get any worse’.
“Unfortunately, he’s going to require surgery and it’s going to keep him out for most of the season.”
Anscombe will be replaced by Dan Biggar in the starting XV for tomorrow’s clash, with Wales showing two other changes in James Davies and Jake Ball replacing Justin Tipuric and Adam Beard, who both suffered knocks at Twickenham.
Cardiff Blues duo Josh Navidi and Jarrod Evans come in to take a place on the bench.
Gatland added: “There is no point if players have a slight knock risking them before we go away next week
(to Turkey for a heat camp) in case they wouldn’t be able to take part.
“We are resting players when they are a little bit sore and taking the risk out. It’s a precautionary measure.”
He also addressed the absence of Leigh Halfpenny from the matchday 23 again, saying: “He’s been doing everything that’s been asked of him in training, he’s been a very important mainstay for us and the team for a number of years and I’m sure he will continue to be that.
“He will get some game-time in the next couple of matches.”
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