Gareth Anscombe will miss 'most of the season', says Warren Gatland
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Thursday 15 August 2019 14:20, UK
Wales coach Warren Gatland says Gareth Anscombe will miss 'most of the season' after injuring his knee against England.
Wales were beaten 33-19 by Eddie Jones' side on Sunday, but worse than the defeat for Gatland was the sight of his first-choice fly-half limping off the field late in the first half.
Earlier this week the Welsh Rugby Union confirmed Anscombe will miss the World Cup, but Gatland says the Ospreys No 10 will be out of action for much longer than that.
The 55-year-old gave details on how the injury occurred, and says Anscombe's fears that he did further damage by initially staying on the field were allayed by Wales' medical staff.
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"He's done an ACL and a meniscus as well so he's done a really good job on that," Gatland said during Thursday's press conference.
"He did it when he made the break down the sideline. It wasn't from a tackle, he just stepped off his right leg and you can see the jarring on the video.
"He said to the physio he felt he jarred his knee and he stayed on there thinking he could run that off. He actually asked the physios 'Did I do any damage?', and they said 'No, you didn't do any more damage, you've already done that, it's not going to get any worse from doing it'."
"Unfortunately he's going to require surgery and it's probably going to keep him out for most of the season."
The injury to Anscombe capped off a poor day for Wales, who fell to their first defeat since last year's Six Nations, and Gatland says a similarly under-par performance could see players losing their starting spots.
"There's a chance for everyone, that's why there's a lot of pressure on those guys on the weekend because if some of them don't front up and don't perform then they're opening the door for someone else," Gatland said.
"You win last weekend and you win this weekend then you pretty much would have sealed potentially a starting spot for the first game or the first couple of games of the World Cup.
"That's why we wanted to make sure the players are aware that they're under pressure. That if they don't perform well on Saturday that they're opening the door for potentially someone else."
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