Andrew Bishop ruled out of Six Nations and European Cup
Andrew Bishop, the Wales center will be missing the Six Nations tournament after being injured due to severely dented ankle ligaments. He has officially been ruled out for eight weeks giving Ospreys a major blow for their critical match coming up against
London Irish. Statistically he is the eleventh international this season to be missing Six Nations due to injury alone. Wales were expecting him to play as a fly half for the national team, which seems impossible now.
Bishop provided services as a midfield bench cover in September tests and was expected to attain a position in Wales Six Nations squad, which Warren Gatland announced on 24th January. Gethin Jenkins will also be missing Six Nations due to a toe injury and
Richie Rees is already banned for twelve weeks. In such conditions, Bishop’s injury has added to the damage and left Wales with few options.
Andrew Bishop is an international rugby player for Wales and also plays for Ospreys at center. He was selected for the national elite Wales squad in May 2008 for the tour to South Africa and made his debut in the second test. He was kept in squad throughout
the 2008 and 2009 season. He was mostly brought on replacements and critics pointed fingers at him, but he always proved himself, in memorable matches against Wallabies and Canada. Wales started using him as a starting player quite soon and in January 2010
he was named in Wales’s national squad for Six Nations 2010. Andrew’s brother David is also a professional rugby union player who plays for Under 21 international team of Wales.
Ospreys physiotherapist, Chris Towers gave an assessment for Bishop’s injury and said, “We have now been able to establish the full extent of the ligament damage sustained through an MRI scan. In light of the location of the injury, we are anticipating that
he could be out of action for up to eight weeks.”
Ospreys’ upcoming match with London Irish will be an ideal opportunity for them to improve their Heineken Cup statistics and bring themselves in the race for quarter finals. Ospreys head coach, Sean Holley said, “If we go there with the attitude that we
only have to turn up to win because Irish are on a losing streak we will definitely come unstuck.”
Ospreys have only won seven matches out of a total of 26 away matches in European Cup and specially without their key players it will be a difficult test for them.
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