Macleod out for six months with ruptured Achilles

FLANKER Josh Macleod has suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon.

The training ground injury denied the Scarlets back row a Wales debut against Scotland yesterday.

Wales coach Wayne Pivac said Macleod, 24, suffered the injury shortly after the announceent of his inclusion in the starting team.

With Dan Lydiate out for the season (knee) and Josh Navidi also injured (neck) Macleod was next in line.

However, he now faces six months on the sidelines. Dragons’ Aaron Wainwright wore the six shirt at Murrayfield.

Macleod’s wait for a first international cap goes on. He had been set to feature in the Autumn Nations Cup but was forced out of that squad because of a hamstring injury.

“I’m guessing it will be something in the vicinity of about six months,” Pivac said of Macleod’s setback. “Injuries of any description are not pleasant for players and nobody wants them but they are part and parcel of the game.

“The most disappointing is young Josh Macleod, who missed the last squad through being injured in a club game the day before coming in.

“To be named in front of his peers and have them celebrate and give him a pat on the back and then to go out training and half an hour later to be taken off on a stretcher, was not great for him, not great for any of us.

“It’s really sad and disappointing for Josh. A debut against Scotland will have been something he’s dreamed of.”