Anscombe steps up recovery after 600 days out

Wales and Ospreys fly-half Gareth Anscombe has returned to kicking, as he steps up his recovery from a knee injury that has kept him from playing for almost two years.

The 30-year-old shared a video of himself goal kicking on social media over the weekend, which is the latest instalment in his recovery from the ACL injury he suffered 645 days ago.

Anscombe picked up the injury for Wales in August 2019 in a World Cup warm up match against England at Twickenham. He had only cemented his place as Wales’ starting No10 under Warren Gatland in the Grand Slam triumph earlier that year and in doing so became the recognised kicker for the team.

It was in the Grand Slam decider against Ireland at the Principality Stadium that Anscombe produced a man of the match performance with a sublime kicking display. The Ospreys No10 amassed the most points for a Welshman against Ireland with 20 (tied with Neil Jenkins), which included six penalties and one conversion. That was his penultimate match in red before sustaining his knee injury later that year.

The New Zealand-born standoff is still not expected to return to action until next season, which means his spell on the sidelines will be over two years. This is nevertheless more positive news with regards to his recovery as he only started jogging again at the beginning of the year.

Anscombe is also yet to make his Ospreys debut after making the move from Cardiff Blues in the summer of 2019. He suffered a setback in his recovery in 2020, and it was revealed by Wales coach Wayne Pivac last October that he was likely to be out for another year.

Pivac said: “I am very confident he will get back. He has got leaders within our game and industry looking after him, and they are saying he’s got every chance of getting back to where he was.

“He is determined to get back on the playing field as soon as he can.”