“I will ask the medical staff to take as long as they need to try to get him back into shape as quickly as they can.”
So said former England football manager Roy Hodgson back in the day, crossing a few words as he did so, but every team boss down the ages will understand the sentiment, including Warren Gatland in his capacity as Wales rugby head coach today.
The seasoned Gatland will not need telling that injuries can ruin campaigns. So it’s to be assumed that he won’t be particularly pleased with having to confront one of the biggest new year hangovers he has known, involving fitness concerns covering around 20 leading players just weeks before the naming of his squad for the 2023 Six Nations.
