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Anscombe steps up recovery after 600 days out
By Josh Raisey
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.”
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Latest Comments
My ‘fantasy’ team V Ireland,
Including options from ABXV if needed, as V Mun better V Ireland better prep than England.
The most important aspect V Ireland is AB need ALL their loosies AND 'loosie capable locks' on ALL match [except IF(?) any tiring ie the aging & slowing eg Cane]. As follows,
{starting} bench (3rd choice)
1 {De Groot} / Tu’ungafasi (Williams)
2 { anyone that can throw!! }/ Aumua (Brodie McAlister)
Ryan! coach lineouts & Aumua to throw!
3 {Lomax}/ Tosi (Newell )
Tosi immense strength V England
4,5 Locks { P.Tuipulotu, S.Barrett }, Vaa’i, Darry
( Isaia Walker-Leawere)
Vaa’i off V Eng. Assumed due to leg injury(?)
6,7,8 Loose forwards { Sititi, A.Savea, Cane } Vaa’i, S.Barrettm, P.Tuipulotu back up (Devan Flanders, Du'Plessis Kirifi )
9 {Roigard } Ratima ( TJ )
10 {D.McK} Perofeta ( Plummer)
12 {J.Barrett } ALB ( Q.Tupaea )
13 {Proctor} Ioane ( AJ Lam )
Ioane (off V England ) but Irish experience (NO not Sexton!)
14 { Tele’a} Reece (bkup W.Jordan )
11 {C.Clarke} Narawa (K.Naholo)
15 {W.Jordan} Love (Stevenson)
Go to commentsI guess the other option would be to start ALB, he's looked good in the 12 so far when he starts and sets up those outside him. But that would mean putting the vice captain on the bench, which is unlikely. Another option would be to drop Reiko to the bench and play Proctor, though he's gone home so that's not going to happen either.
Both of those players just offer more of the soft distribution skills good centres learn from playing their careers there. Unfortunately that's what's lacking with the current combo.
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