Justin Tipuric: Wales and Ospreys flanker to miss the rest of the season
- Published
Both Justin Tipuric and Alun Wyn Jones injured their shoulders in the Lions' warm-up game at Murrayfield
Wales flanker Justin Tipuric will miss the rest of the 2021-22 season after an injury setback.
Tipuric injured his shoulder while playing in the British and Irish Lions' warm-up game against Japan in June 2021, and subsequently missed the tour.
The 32-year-old was due back for Ospreys' Christmas derbies, but needed further surgery.
"The nature of the injury has never been seen in rugby before," said Ospreys head coach Toby Booth.
"It's an injury which resembles more a road traffic accident so we need to make sure that we're in a 100% right position for him to come back and come back safely.
"We got him back to a point in December - which was encouraging - where he had alleviated the majority of the issues but the last little bit is always the hardest part. Luckily we spotted it before he took to the pitch and could have re-injured himself.
"There's no rush to get him back and we just want to get him back and playing to the best of his ability."
Tipuric has been in rehab with fellow internationals George North and Dan Lydiate who both picked up serious knee injuries last season.
Lydiate is set to return against Leinster on 19 February, while North is due back for the match against Zebre on 6 March.
"Dan has put a huge amount of work in and shown a lot of mental strength," said Booth.
"When you have someone of the ability of Dan Lydiate, getting him back is really important for the group. It reflects well on the programme that we have got.
"George was due [to return] around the Zebre game, our next game, and nothing's happened to think that's not going to be the case.
"It's a bit of a push-and-a-pull thing. His body's reacting to training and backing up training days, so there's a bit of in and out.
"But he's trained fully today and he's trained fully three times this week, which is great."
There had been a chance of North returning against Leinster on Saturday which would have given him a chance to prove his fitness for Wales ahead of the Six Nations match against England on 26 February.
Booth added: "There's context to everything. Do people need him to play? How much does he need to play? Is there a necessity to play?
"All we need to do for George is get him back out there and [for him to] be confident in his body as we would for any player who's coming back from that sort of injury."
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