Pocock’s return delayed

David Pocock’s long-awaited return from a rugby sabbatical has hit a roadblock with news he will miss at least the first four rounds of Super Rugby.

The influential openside flanker had surgery on his right knee on Saturday and will spend the next eight to 12 weeks on the sidelines, delaying his playing return until round four at the earliest, but possibly not until the ACT Brumbies’ round seven clash with the NSW Waratahs in Canberra at the end of March.

Pocock said he had been carrying the degenerative injury for many months but the Brumbies decided to bite the bullet and do without their big-name back-rower rather than risk losing him later in the team’s Super Rugby campaign.

‘‘It’s disappointing and frustrating but there’s not much I can do,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve been managing it for ages and I could have kept managing it, but the Brumbies decided they wanted it sorted and for it not to be an issue halfway through the season or towards the back end.’’

It was not the homecoming anyone wanted for Pocock, whose flexible contract has been the subject of fierce scrutiny in the past two years. The 29-year-old signed a lucrative three-year deal in March 2016 to keep him at the very top of the Australian rugby pay scale alongside Israel Folau, who also signed a flexible contract that included a season in Japan. Pocock took a 12-month break from playing duties in Australia last year before coming home to prepare for two seasons with the Brumbies and Wallabies, which will include the 2019 World Cup.

Pocock and partner Emma spent six months in Zimbabwe, a short stint studying at Harvard, a quick trip to Canada to visit his paternal grandmother and then five months playing for the Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan’s Top League.

He confessed to some nerves about how the break would affect him, but stood by the decision to refresh himself mentally and physically.