Justin Tipuric has returned to Wayne Pivac’s list of concerns ahead of Wales’ autumn Tests, with the Ospreys captain ruled out of the United Rugby Championship clash with Ulster at the Kingspan Stadium on Saturday.
Fellow international Gareth Anscombe will also be missing, the Ospreys saying they each have rib injuries.
Tipuric missed last week’s encounter with Glasgow Warriors amid speculation he had been rested after playing in his region’s first two games of the season. But it transpires he had picked up a bump in the previous weekend’s date with the Lions.
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The Ospreys do not believe the injury is anything to be alarmed about, but Wales team boss Pivac will certainly be hoping they are right ahead of naming his squad for the November Tests. Wales kick off their autumn campaign with a November 5 clash with New Zealand at the Principality Stadium.
“He’s not far away,” Ospreys head coach Toby Booth said of Tipuric. “It’s a pain thing. Rib injuries can be uncomfortable, because when you breathe in and breathe out, your rib cage moves.
“Justin has actually trained, which is obviously the first sign, but he won’t make this weekend.”
It's a blow for Tipuric, who only recently returned to rugby following a major injury lay-off. He is keen to regain his form to win back the Wales number seven jersey which was worn with distinction by Tommy Reffell on the summer tour to South Africa.
Anscombe took a knock to the ribs as well, in his case at a ruck early in the second half in the 32-17 win over Glasgow, with the fly-half forced off in obvious pain.
Later, Booth said he expected the citing officer to take a look at the incident, which involved the Scottish team’s replacement hooker George Turner.
Such a process duly unfolded, with Booth revealing: “The citing commissioner issued a yellow card post game. So that’s final. My motivation wasn’t to single out a player. It was just to protect our own.”
Anscombe will now need to work his way back. “Gareth’s very sore and won’t be available this week,” the Ospreys coach continued.
“He’s not been on the training pitch this week. It’s about getting him back and up to speed as soon as we can. I don’t think he’ll be too long.” You can read more about Anscombe here.
Fellow Wales star Alex Cuthbert is another who us currently sidelined and a concern for Pivac as he looks to finalise his squad for those autumn games against New Zealand, Argentina, Georgia and Australia.
There is better news about prop Gareth Thomas, who emerged as one of the stars of Wales’ tour of South Africa in the summer. A hamstring problem has kept the loosehead out so far this term, but he is ready to play a part against Ulster.
Booth said: “Gareth will be in the mix for this weekend. He’s trained fully for the last couple of weeks and he’s at the stage where he’s not at risk."
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