-Credit: (Image: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)
Wales star Ross Moriarty has revealed he is out for three months after suffering a painful injury.
While playing for Brive against Dax in the Pro D2 in October, a maul collapsed on top of him, causing the Welshman to scream out in pain as the game was stopped.
Fast forward to December, and Moriarty has provided an update, which will see him miss a large portion of the season, after going under the knife for his leg injury.
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Posting to Instagram, the 30-year-old back rower wrote: “‘You cannot always control your situation, but you can control how you react’. Ill work on the facials…. three months.”
He attached an image of himself screaming out in pain on the field, along with two images of his freshly operated on ankle and leg. Check out the photos below.
Fellow Wales star Josh Adams wrote in the comments: “Speedy recovery mukka.”
Moriarty’s Brive team-mate Sammy Arnold jokingly commented: “Three weeks*” and mentioned the team physio.
France Bleu Limousin report that Brive have signed South African Hendre Stassen as Moriarty’s replacement. The last time Stassen played in France it was for Stade Francais, where he tested positive for a banned substance and was suspended for four years.
Moriarty has earned 54 caps for Wales, and therefore still qualifies to represent his country due to the 25-cap rule. However, he ruled himself out of contention for the 2023 Rugby World Cup upon signing for Brive, and has not since been called upon by Warren Gatland.
He was a hugely important figure for Wales in 2019, where they won the Six Nations Grand Slam and reached the semi-finals of the World Cup.
In recent times, Aaron Wainwright has established himself as a world-class operator at number eight, with the likes of Taulupe Faletau coming back from injury and providing depth in that position.
The blindside flanker role doesn’t have a nailed-down starter right now, and if Gatland was ever to call upon Moriarty again, he would certainly provide this young Wales team with physicality and gain line, as he’s always done.