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Wales flanker Ellis Jenkins sidelined following problems with knee surgery

By Sam Smith
Ellis Jenkins seems to be a good fit as Wales captain in Alun Wyn Jones' absence (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Cardiff director of rugby Dai Young has revealed that flanker Ellis Jenkins has not trained all summer after a knee operation at the end of last season has proven to be a “little problematic.”

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The 15-cap Wales international missed Cardiff’s preseason encounter with Gloucester on Friday night, which the Cherry & Whites won 42-17 at Kingsholm, and WalesOnline have reported the cause for his absence.

The positive news for Jenkins and everyone involved with Cardiff and Wales is that this is not the knee that curtailed so much of his career, and saw him sidelined for 26 months after tearing his ACL against South Africa in November 2018.

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“Ellis hasn’t trained all summer,” Young told WalesOnline. “He picked up a bit of a niggle in his knee. Not the one that he seriously injured, the other one.

“He had a clear out towards the end of last season, nothing serious, and it’s been a little bit problematic, to be honest. Nobody is panicking about it but hopefully he’s in training next week. That’s the reason he didn’t play against Gloucester.”

Despite the scoreline, Young took positives from his side’s loss in what was their first preseason outing of the year.

“We can take a lot of good things from tonight – it was a real worthwhile exercise,” Young said to the Cardiff Rugby website. “It was always going to be a big challenge coming here because this was Gloucester’s third pre-season game, their season starts next week and that was not far off their best team.

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“Lots of our boys weren’t available for tonight’s game, but that’s a great challenge for the for the youngsters coming through. We had a very young backline first half, but I thought they did really well.

“Nobody wants to lose and nobody wants to rack up big scores but I think we’ll take a lot out there tonight and the youngsters will take a lot.”

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Bull Shark 2 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

Of the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.

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