Ospreys duo are ruled out for rest of season
KEELAN Giles has suffered another injury hammer blow, with the young Ospreys wing ruled out for the rest of the 2019-20 rugby season.
And Cory Allen is also set to be sidelined for the rest of the campaign, possibly longer.
The double dose of bad news is part of a grim medical update released by the region.
Dan Evans and James King are expected to be off limits until early December, along with young prop Rhys Henry. All of them have shoulder problems.
New signing Ben Glynn is out for the rest of 2019 with a pectoral injury, while Harri Morgan (knee) will be absent for two months and another recent arrival, Shaun Venter (medial ligament) faces six weeks of inactivity.
And Luke Morgan damaged his lower back against Benetton last time out, a knock that will incapacitate the Wales international for a month and a half.
But Allen, injured against Ulster on the opening night of the season, and Giles, who picked up his bump against Benetton, are by far the most serious of the casualties.
The injury bulletin from the Ospreys runs: “As the team head back to Ireland this weekend to take on Munster in round four of the Guinness PRO14, Ospreys Rugby can confirm the injuries sustained during a tough start to the season.
“Cory Allen sustained a right knee injury involving his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and cartilage. Allen had surgery two weeks later to repair the cartilage and will wait until the new year for the reconstruction of his ACL.He will continue to undergo rehabilitation throughout the season.
“Keelan Giles suffered significant knee ligament damage against Benetton Rugby and will undergo surgery later this week. He will continue to undergo rehabilitation throughout the season and has been ruled out for the remainder of the 2019/2020 campaign.”
It would take a hard heart not to feel for both players.
With Allen’s reconstruction work set for the new year, it is not inconceivable the Wales international could be out for the whole of 2020, though the Ospreys haven’t put a timescale on how long they expect to be without him.
It’s desperate news for the player who scored a hat-trick of tries in a World Cup match for Wales against Uruguay in 2015. Much the same applies for Giles. When he burst on the scene he was being tipped for great things after 11 tries, a number of them spectacular affairs, in his first seven senior matches.
The flyer with the extra gear was called up for Wales’ New Zealand tour of 2016 and included in their autumn series squad four months later without winning a senior cap.
Injuries have intervened since, with the former Wales U20s player missing 12 months after smashing a knee in a nasty collision with Ashton Hewitt in the Ospreys-Dragons game in Swansea in the autumn of 2017.
The road back to peak form and fitness has been a hard one, but the 21-year-old had shown flashes of his running skill on the odd occasions the Ospreys had managed to work him into space this season. Now it’s a long-haul rehabilitation programme for him and Allen.
For the Ospreys, the news on all nine players will be particularly challenging to deal with at a time when they have eight front liners, including Alun Wyn Jones, Justin Tipuric, Adam Beard and Nicky Smith, away with Wales the World Cup.
There was some good news for Ospreys, though, with the signing of South Africa Test lock Marvin Orie on a short-term contract.
The indications are the arrangement is likely to last for a couple of months, with South African team Lions saying one of their main ball-winners will be back before the end of the year to begin preparations for the 2020 Super Rugby season.