1
Light shed on Alex Cuthbert's latest injury absence which is now 14 weeks and counting
Exeter boss Rob Baxter had shed light on the latest lengthy absence of Wales international Alex Cuthbert from his squad roster at Sandy Park, while also issuing progress reports on England winger Jack Nowell and South African forward Jannes Kirsten who sustained a recent facial injury.
ADVERTISEMENT
Welsh winger Cuthbert, the 30-year-last capped in 2017, has endured an injury-hit existence at Exeter since joining the reigning Gallagher Premiership and Heineken Cup Champions from Cardiff in 2018.
Having enjoyed a productive first term at the club, featuring 17 times in the 2018/19 season, he has had limited exposure since then. There were just four appearances in the pre-lockdown part of the 2019/20 season, Cuthbert requiring surgery after damaging his hamstring in action 14 months ago against La Rochelle.
Cuthbert managed three post-lockdown restart appearances but hasn’t featured on the Exeter teamsheet since the round 22 league defeat at Wasps on October 4 and is yet to make an appearance in the new 2020/21 campaign.
Baxter has now explained the Welshman’s ongoing absence, a lay-off that is now 14 weeks and counting. “Alex had a quite significant muscle tear and we just had to give him proper time,” said the Exeter coach ahead of this Saturday’s top of the table league clash with Bristol.
Chiefs also admit to some positive tests ahead of their Premiership showdown versus Bristol #HeinekenChampionsCup #GallagherPrem https://t.co/kKa2bJwRkU
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 6, 2021
“He kind of rolled from injury to injury a lot of time he has been here. Alex would play tomorrow, that is the kind of guy he is and probably it has been the reason why he has tended to pick up injuries or has sustained worse injuries. He is quite a tough cookie. He wants to be on the field and he gets on with things and sometimes he maybe hasn’t quite reported little bits and pieces, so we are being a bit overly cautious with him, just taking our time.
“He is one of these guys who will be around in the foreseeable future but it’s just one of those things, players pick up injuries and you have got to condition them through it and get them fit to play again. There are no other issues with him other than there has been an injury issue.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The one thing that everybody at the club is very positive about is he is one of the hardest working rehab people we have had. The conditioners and the physios can’t talk highly enough about how perfectionist he is and how hard he works to right himself right.
“That is all you can ask of a player. You can’t ask players not to get injured. That is not how it works. All you can do is ask them to give every opportunity to get back on the field when they can and be ready to play and he does that every single time.”
Switching to Nowell, who was sent for an operation on ruptured toe ligaments following October’s Premiership final win over Wasps, should be back in harness sometime this spring. “It was a serious injury, quite an operation. Timescale, I don’t want to be overly positive but you are probably looking five, six to eight weeks.
“Time goes by incredibly quickly. A lot of our guys who have had operations or tidy ups, there is that period where we could get them back in a bit of block, that period of four to ten weeks there is a good block of injured players who will be returning then. Time will go by quickly but at the moment we have got a strong squad and we will be getting on with things,” he said, switching to the prognosis surrounding Kirsten following the Boxing Day win over Gloucester.
ADVERTISEMENT
“Jannes came off for the HIA and realised there was something more going on. When he went in for an x-ray he got a very small fracture around his eye socket. I won’t tell you the exact details of it all but it means he has a small operation.
“He has been back in and around (the squad since then). He is okay but now he has got to go through his period of rehab which with facial injuries means you have got to rest for a period because any pressure so what can cause you issues again. So at the moment he is just resting and recuperating and he will start a return to play in that next five, six-week period.”
"I don’t think you can say the competition is normal in the sense that games are having to be called off and points allocated"
– Tensions rising in lower half of Prem table judging by the Worcester perspective on match cancellations #GallagherPrem https://t.co/ii1jfik7HE
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) January 6, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments