It was confirmed today that Mike Phillips will miss the first two rounds of this season"â¬â¢s Heineken Cup next month.
The scrum-half underwent surgery in early April to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a grade-two tear to the medial collateral ligament, suffered in the EDF Energy Cup semi-final victory over Saracens at the Millennium Stadium the previous month, and had initially been pencilled in for an early October return. However, although his rehab has gone very well, having returned to the specialist this week for a scan and consultation to assess his progress, he has been instructed to rest up completely, delaying his potential comeback by a matter of weeks.
Ospreys Physio Chris Towers said:
"Mike had a scan this week, which has confirmed that his knee has reacted to the high level of rehab he has gone through over the last few weeks, and as a result of this, we have to accept that he needs to rest up over the next week or two to allow the knee to settle down. The specialist is optimistic that Mike will be able to pick up where he left off once the knee has settled down, but looking at the situation realistically, he will still need a few weeks to work on his rugby fitness before we can consider him ready for competitive rugby.
It's very disappointing that this hiccup in the final stages of his recovery has ruled him out of contention for the opening rounds of European rugby, but it is in the long term best interests of Mike, the Ospreys and Wales that we ensure his knee is 100 per cent right before he returns to action."