Wasps look at forward planning for Barbeary
He’s a quality player we need to make sure we get him on the field, so we’ll be doing everything we can.
Lee Blackett
ALFIE Barbeary’s latest injury setback has prompted Wasps to review how they manage the England hopeful.
The 20-year-old was selected as a substitute to face Exeter Chiefs last weekend but was forced to withdraw during the warm-up due to a hamstring issue.
Following Wasps’ 43-13 defeat at Sandy Park, head coach Lee Blackett believed it was a minor setback, adding ‘I don’t think it’s a car crash.’
However, further investigations have revealed the powerful forward is set for a further four weeks out of action.
This follows a calf injury suffered during his only start of 2021 against Sale Sharks that ruled him out of the Heineken Champions Cup defeat to Clermont, having previously spent three months out due to a syndesmosis injury suffered against Sale Sharks in late December. Barbeary, who was called up into the England senior squad for the first time during the Autumn Nations Cup, also missed around six months of the 2019/20 season due to quad muscle and hamstring issues.
“We’re going to have to make sure we manage him,” said Blackett.
“He’s a young guy and he’s had two years with plenty of injuries. “We have to make sure we get this right when he comes back, we’re going to have to make sure we get his programme and everything right.
“He’s going to have to work really hard behind the scenes, because it’s now happened a couple of times where he’s come back and he’s picked up a few knocks, in terms of soft tissue (injuries) that have been his last two.
“He’s a quality player we need to make sure we get him on the field, so we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure we get him back on the field.”
Blackett added the hamstring
injury wasn’t a recurrence of last season’s issue which delayed him from making his Premiership debut.
That moment came from the bench against Worcester Warriors last August in Wasps’ first home game behind closed doors following the resumption of the 2019/20 season.
He marked the game with a try before topping that a week later with a hat-trick on his first start against Leicester Tigers.
Barbeary played an integral part in Wasps’ surge to the Premiership final which he unfortunately missed out on due to Covid-19 contact tracing reasons.
“It seems to be different little things,” added Blackett.
“But we’re going to have to make sure everything’s right in terms of looking after him, make sure that he’s on top of all his rehab and his prehab, because as we’ve seen at his best he’s a pretty special player and we need to get him back out on the field.”
Blackett, whose side face Bath on Sunday at the Ricoh Arena, hopes to have Will Rowlands available after the lock suffered a knee injury against Exeter Chiefs.
Prop Simon Mcintyre returns to training this week, but will not be considered for selection until the Harlequins game at the earliest.