Jordan has a ‘significant’ knee injury
GEORGE Skivington insists he will not make any emergency signings despite confirming that lock Cam Jordan is out for the season after suffering a ‘nasty’ knee injury, writes John Evely.
The Cherry & Whites are also without first-choice lock Matias Alemanno, who is out with a knee injury as well, but the Gloucester director of rugby confirmed the Argentina international should be fit ahead of the 2024/25 season.
Skivington said: “Cam is out for the season, he picked up a nasty knee injury in the round of 16 game against Castres. Matty will be back for next season, but I don’t think Cam (pictured) will be, it is a significant one.
“We have got a couple of good young locks and I want to give them a bit more exposure at the back end of the season. There are couple of them who have been going well over the last couple of weeks, but Matty is certainly a big loss, anyone would miss him in their side, and Cam was in good form. It is unfortunate but that is the nature of the beast.”
In the final weeks of the 23/24 campaign, Skivington looks set to lean on Freddie Clarke, Arthur Clark and Freddie Thomas, with Albert Tuisue also considered an option at lock.
Meanwhile, the club’s medical team are looking at how they can manage Val Rapava-Ruskin’s troublesome knee to potentially wheel him out in the European games to come.
Skivington said: “It has been a battle with Val this season. This grumbly knee that we have tried to sort out at the beginning of the season, then he came back for the Prem Cup final and it grumbled up again.
“It is in a funny spot, he can go with no pain and he is good to go and then it can flair up quite easily. We are in a compromised position where week to week we have to make decisions on him.
“We want Val back, we are conscious we have got some knockout rugby to play and he is a very good player, but it is being done a little bit by feeling because we haven’t got a definitive plan in place because the knee has acted differently to how we thought it would. He is in a pretty good spot and not a million miles away, we are all just desperate to get it right because next season we don’t want another campaign where he barely features. There is potential to manage him through the big games, but the other side of it is some of the other lads have gone really well and we need to weigh up the continuity and respect and reward performance.”