'He’s just been very, very unlucky, almost freakish, really': Rob Baxter

Christ Tshiunza is losing his battle to be fit for Wales’s Six Nations campaign with a foot injury that he picked up on the opening day of the Gallagher PREM season.

The Exeter Chiefs back row has been out of action since damaging his foot in the draw with Northampton Saints in September, and recently received a setback in his recovery.

Tshiunza has been battling foot injuries for over a year, and Chiefs boss Rob Baxter says that it’s unlikely that he will be ready to play again before the end of the tournament when Italy visit Cardiff on March 14th.

“We’ve got to be a little bit careful because he’s kind of re-damaged the same area two or three times now. It’s just one of those ones where we’re going to have to be a little careful.

“The next stage is to put a screw in the bone in his foot. It’s one of those things you just don’t want to do unless you really, really have to. It’s a relatively complex structure.

“He’s just been very, very unlucky, almost freakish, really, how he’s damaged the same area two or three times. So if we can get him back for the end of the Premiership season, then he’ll still have plenty of game time.

“I wouldn’t want to rule him out of being available towards the end (of the Six Nations), because it’s such an extended competition, isn’t it? But I would say, here and now, I think it would be unlikely,” Baxter told RugbyPass.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs are still waiting on the results of a scan on the knee injury Wallabies flanker Tom Hooper suffered in the defeat against Bristol Bears last weekend.

“Obviously, we’re hopeful. It’s not too serious. But I’ve been hopeful before, and I’ve been proved wrong, so we’re just keeping our fingers crossed, and it’s nothing too major.

“But we’ll see. It’s one of those ones that’s a little bit worrying at the moment. He’s a very good player, very important to us, obviously. If it’s a major one at this stage of the season, you start to go, that’s probably it done.

“But it’s the MCL, which is just obviously a ligament on the side. There’s a good chance he’ll be a lot better by the end of the PREM Cup period,” added Baxter.