Surgeons ‘can do no more’ for Anscombe
GARETH Anscombe faces the grim prospect of missing a second successive season in what has become a long fight to save his career.
The fly-half who guided Wales to their Grand Slam almost two years ago has been forced to abandon hope of playing any part in the Six Nations starting in February and with it any prospect of making the Lions’ three-Test series in South Africa next summer.
Already out of action for the best part of 18 months, Anscombe still has no idea when he will be back. Ospreys fear that is now unlikely to happen before next season.
Since damaging a knee during Wales’ pre-World Cup match against England at Twickenham in August of last year, Anscombe has undergone three operations, one investigative.
“They don’t think they can do any more for the knee by surgery,” an Ospreys source told The
“The last one was carried out six months ago. They’ve done all they can.
“We have a very good medical team so Gareth couldn’t be in better hands. He might not get back this season but there is a confidence that he could be playing again next season. It’s a case of rest and recuperation.”
Anscombe’s first goal will be to make his debut for Ospreys, one which has eluded him since they signed him from Cardiff Blues on a three-year contract in April 2019. The on-going doubt over his future forced the Swanseabased region back into the market to sign veteran onecap England stand-off Stephen Myler.
Having already played 20 Tests without the 29-yearold who had established himself as the country’s leading No. 10, Wales will play at least five more, Covid-permitting, in the New Year, starting against Ireland in Cardiff on February 7.
Ospreys’ latest bulletin on Alun Wyn Jones points to Wales starting the campaign without a captain whose indestructibility took a dent against Italy at the end of the Nations’ Cup a fortnight ago. Their estimated recovery time of ‘eight to nine weeks’ suggests that the captaincy will pass to fellow Osprey Justin Tipuric.
Wayne Pivac, whose mighty task of reinventing Wales has been plagued by recurring casualties, cannot be sure whether long-term absentees like Ken Owens, Ross Moriarty and Josh Navidi will be fit and firing for the Ireland match.
Owens, whose importance to the national cause has been heightened by his absence hitherto this
season, is due back next month following shoulder surgery. Moriarty’s return from ankle trouble remains uncertain and the dynamic, multi-purpose Navidi hasn’t played since suffering concussion in August.
The biggest of all Welsh casualties, Navidi’s Blues fellow back row forward Ellis Jenkins, below, is still to play again more than two years after smashing his left knee during the final seconds of a man-of-thematch performance in a home win over the Springboks. The damage was so extensive that Jenkins required three operations. After several delays, Jenkins hopes to get his comeback underway in the New Year as overdue reward for his gutsy refusal to give up a fight even longer than Anscombe’s.