Ryan Elias: Wales & Scarlets hooker could miss rest of season

Ryan Elias made his senior Wales debut against Tonga in June 2017

Scarlets and Wales hooker Ryan Elias could miss the rest of the season after an operation on an Achilles injury.

Elias, 28, has missed the last five Scarlets games and wasn't considered by Wales for the Six Nations.

"He won't be ready for a while. We'll have to wait and see how that settles," said Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel.

"Hopefully he can be back before the end of the season, but that could be asking too much of him. Otherwise it'll be pre-season."

Peel did have better news on the fitness of Wales centre Johnny Williams, who is close to making a comeback.

Williams, 26, has been sidelined since early October after suffering a calf injury against Benetton.

"Johnny's getting better. He's up and running. He's not in rugby training yet," said Peel.

"The next week or two are really important for him getting back into the swing of things. After a couple of weeks of rugby training he'll be back into it. The rehab is going well for him."