1
'He will have to get some kind of surgery': Gloucester's worst Polledri fears confirmed
By Chris Jones
Gloucester have had their worst fears confirmed over the extent of the knee problem suffered by Jake Polledri as the back row will undergo ACL surgery following his injury while playing for Italy in last Saturday's Autumn Nations Cup loss to Scotland.
The back row forward injured his knee in Florence and the Gallagher Premiership club are to consider a short-term signing to cover for the loss of one of their most influential forwards who will now also miss the 2021 Six Nations with Italy.
Gloucester boss George Skivington is holding a meeting with club medical staff and fellow coaches to determine the full ramifications of the Polledri injury which has come at a time when they will also be without Willi Heinz, the England scrum-half, who is still a month away from recovering from a calf injury.
Heinz was injured training with England and while he is going to miss the first month of the new Premiership season, the timeline for Polledri is more worrying as six months is a best-case scenario.
Skivington, who takes his team to Leicester on Saturday for their 2020/21 opener, said: “Jake had the scans in Italy and it’s not great. He is not going to be back playing in the next couple of months or anything like that.
"We are clarifying what the report says and he will have to get some kind of surgery. He won’t be making a quick return but we will get him back stronger than ever. It is very disappointing. Jake had been working really hard on areas of his game. He is a really good prospect for the club, but now it is going to be a bit further down the line. With Jake being out we will have to review and see if there is cover or it is something we have to address.
“Willi was injured training with England and it was never going to be a super quick recovery and he has about four weeks left. It is not a black and white return to play because it is his calf. It was a fairly significant injury.”
New Gloucester captain Lewis Ludlow added: “It’s massive to lose Jake. I spoke to him on Sunday because I had a big knee injury myself. I assured him it was a long process but it can be done. We have a crazy amount of talent in our back row but he will be sorely missed.”
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Jake White: Ireland, Australia and Wales have the same problem
3
David Campese names his Springbok world player of the year winner
4
Let's be real about these All Blacks
5
Latest Comments
i think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
Go to comments