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'That's really up to Wales': Gloucester update Rees-Zammit injury
Gloucester boss George Skivington remains in the dark as to when exactly Wales’ Louis Rees-Zammit will be available to play again following his Christmas Eve ankle injury at Leicester. The lack of clarity regarding a potential return-to-play date has resulted in the youthful winger becoming a major doubt for the upcoming Guinness Six Nations, a campaign that new Wales boss Warren Gatland opens with the February 4 match at home to Ireland.
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What Skivington did say was that he has ruled out Rees-Zammit from Gloucester selection until next month at the earliest, the coach promising that he will endeavor to seek out a more informed update from the Gloucester medics so that he can provide better information when he next makes a media briefing appearance.
“There was a delay in getting the scans but they have all the information now,” explained Skivington at Tuesday’s Gloucester media briefing ahead of Friday’s Kingsholm clash with Saracens, the current Gallagher Premiership league leaders.
“I’m being honest here: from my point of view I know he [Rees-Zammit] isn’t available to me until that Six Nations period and I’m sort of moving on and hoping that he will be available for some point of the Six Nations and beyond that. I have got so many things going on with other injuries and all the rest of it that it’s one of those I leave to them [the medics] and hopefully from that point of view, he will be ready for the start of the Six Nations.
“There is no date that has been given to me and whether that is because it is one of those injuries where it could kick on quicker – he is a young, healthy bloke and you’d hope he would recover as quickly as anyone – or whether it is a debate should he play this game or not, I’m genuinely not sure about it. I have got a feeling that I’m going to be asked this question a few times, so I best get well-versed and then throw a date out and you can all speak to Louis after that.”
Asked to specify the exact injury that has ruled Rees-Zammit out of the Gloucester reckoning – threatening his Wales availability – and also why there was a delay in getting the problem scanned, Skivington added: “It was just because it was Christmas Eve when he got hurt. No one was available until Thursday (December 29) by the time when they got the scans done just because of that Christmas period.
“It is an ankle injury. I think it went down as syndesmosis but that is a pretty vague injury. They can be long or short. Again, I haven’t asked for the exact details of it because I know he is not available to me (at the moment). Again, I’ll look to get the diagnosis in front of me for you all next week and then it can be put to bed.
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“He is walking around at the moment, which is good news, but he is definitely not going to be back anytime soon. I haven’t got an exact date of return because it is going to be around that Six Nations period, so from my point of view I am just going to plan for him not to be here for a few weeks. I am not sure exactly what week of the Six Nations he will or won’t get ready for, but he won’t be playing for us for the next couple of weeks anyway.
“The medics are on top of it at the moment. They will tell me the timescale but I know he is not going to be here before the Six Nations, so therefore he is not going to be here for a little while. That is really up to Wales to work out if he is going to play for Wales.”
Comments on RugbyPass
It will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
1 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
2 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
28 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
2 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to commentsAnd the person responsible for creating a culture of accountability is?
3 Go to commentsMore useless words from Ben Smith -Please get another team to write about. SA really dont need your input, it suck anyway.
264 Go to comments