Western Morning News (Saturday)
Exeter taking it easy with Cuthbert return
EXETER Chiefs’ forgotten wing star Alex Cuthbert is back in full training and close to a playing return from a personal injury hell.
Cuthbert joined Chiefs ahead of the 2018/19 season after seven years with Cardiff Blues.
He arrived at Sandy Park with a huge reputation having earned 47 caps for Wales and one Test appearance for the British and Irish Lions in 2013, but a series of injuries denied the 30-year a chance to shine at the Champions Cup and Gallagher Premiership champions, scoring just two tries in 24 games.
Cuthbert did make a brief return in the summer from a serious hamstring injury which required surgery back in December 2019, playing in the 59-7 thumping of Worcester on August 30, but then picked up a calf injury which has kept him on the sidelines until now.
Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter said: “Alex had a quite significant muscle tear and we just had to give him proper time to recover.
“People will be aware he has kind of just rolled from an injury to an injury a lot of the time he has been here.
“Alex would play tomorrow, that is the type of guy he is and probably that has been the reason he has picked up injuries or he has sustained worse injuries because he is quite a tough cookie and he wants to be on the field and he gets on with things and maybe sometimes hasn’t reported little bits and pieces.
“We are being a little bit overly cautious with him and taking a bit of time but he will be one of those guys who will be around in the foreseeable future.”
While Baxter would clearly have liked to have seen a lot more of player who was a headline signing, he said he wasn’t annoyed by the situation.
Baxter said: “It is just one of those things that players pick up injuries and you have got to condition them through it and get them 100 percent fit to play again.
“There have been no other issues with him accept the injury issue. It is just one of those things.
“One thing that everybody here at the club is very positive about is he is one of the hardest working rehabbing players we have. “
Baxter continued: “The conditioners and physios can’t talk highly enough about how professional he is and how hard he works to get himself right. That is all you can ask of a player. You can’t ask a player not to get injured, that is not how it works all you can do is give everything they can to get back on the field as soon as they can and he does that every single time.”
With a two week break in the season due to Round Three and Four of the Heineken Champions Cup being postponed by tournament organisers EPCR this week, following concerns from the French government over the spread of the new strain of Covid-19, Baxter looks set to have a number of key backs back available for the Exeter’s Round Seven clash away at Worcester Warriors in the league.