The season hasn’t even started and the Scarlets are suffering a mini-injury crisis with Wales tighthead prop the latest player to be ruled out long term after snapping his Achilles tendon playing in the pre-season friendly at Saracens last weekend. He came onto the field to replace fellow international Henry Thomas, who was forced off […]
The season hasn’t even started and the Scarlets are suffering a mini-injury crisis with Wales tighthead prop the latest player to be ruled out long term after snapping his Achilles tendon playing in the pre-season friendly at Saracens last weekend.
He came onto the field to replace fellow international Henry Thomas, who was forced off after only a few minutes, and now faces a nine-month period of re-hab. It is a bitter blow for the 23-year-old who was hoping to add to his four caps to date this season.
For the Scarlets, it was a familiar story having lost the services of legendary prop Samson Lee to a similar injury last season. They also have wings Steff Evans and Tomi Lewis recovering from their own Achilles problems.
But there is better news for Wales centre Joe Roberts, who is targeting a return to action in December after having a bone transplant to resolve his knee problems. He won two caps last season before suffering his latest knee injury.
“I had to get a bone transplant with the fragment flown in from somewhere overseas. I think it came from America,” said the 24-year-old Roberts.
“I had a hole in my knee. It was in the bottom of my femur where it came into my knee, on the outside. They scraped out the mess and plugged the hole with another person’s bone.
“It was wear-and-tear, a build-up from when I first did my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) a few years ago. If you looked at my knee now from a medical point of view, it should look healthy because the bone surface is healed and the plug would have worked.
“I’ve had a few injuries now, and hopefully this is the last one. The time frame they gave me was anywhere between six and 12 months, but the surgeon said the operation went well and hopefully I should be back before Christmas.
Roberts had begun to build a good midfield partnership with another exciting youngster in Eddie James. He won two caps in the summer and they have been tipped to take over from Jonathan Davies and Scott Williams as the Scarlets centre pair.
But there is plenty of strength in depth in the midfield for Dwayne Peel to consider with Johnny Williams, up and coming Wales U20 star Macs Page, Ioan Lloyd, Ioan Nicholas and Gabe McDonald all available.