Dragons deliver crushing Ashton Hewitt injury update
The Dragons have confirmed that winger Ashton Hewitt underwent surgery on his right knee on Wednesday and is now set for a long spell out of action.
The 29-year-old picked up the injury to his anterior cruciate ligament ahead of the Dragons' New Year's Day win over the Scarlets. This is the second major knee injury of his career, having ruptured his ACL in 2021.
The injury came just days after Hewitt became the Dragons' joint-second highest try scorer of all time, level with Hallam Amos on 36, seven behind Aled Brew.
Though a timescale has not been given for the recovery, it is unlikely that the winger will play again this season, which is a damaging blow to the Dragons who sit second from bottom in the United Rugby Championship table.
Head Coach Dai Flanagan said: “We are all devastated for Ashton and it is cruel that a player who has experienced this type of injury before now faces another spell out of the game.
“Ashton has been impressive for us this season, getting back to the levels we know he can produce and being a real catalyst for some of our better performances.
“He has undergone surgery and now starts his journey back surrounded by our medical staff and physios, and with the support and backing of us all at Dragons.
“I am sure our supporters will join us in sending our best wishes to Ashton and wishing him well with his recovery.”
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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