Gareth Anscombe will miss the entire Six Nations tournament for the third time in four seasons.
The full extent of the damage to his broken right shoulder goes far beyond Ospreys' admission that their fly-half was ‘unlikely' to be fit for the opener against Ireland.
The Rugby Paper understands Anscombe could be at some risk of missing a second successive World Cup, depriving Warren Gatland of his No.1 No.10.
Gatland, due back in Cardiff this week to start work on repairing Wales, had planned the rebuilding around Anscombe, whose earliest recovery is not expected before next summer's home-and-away matches against England, barely a month before the World Cup starts.
“The injury is worse than first thought,'' a source told TRP. “As well as putting Gareth out for the whole Six Nations, he could be struggling to make the World Cup warm-ups.''
Anscombe is Gatland's man. He ran Wales' last Grand Slam show during the reappointed coach's last Six Nations in 2019, completing the clean sweep with 20 points from seven goals against Ireland. He has hardly been seen in the tournament since.
The knee injury against England at Twickenham that summer which almost destroyed his career wiped him out of the 2020 and 2021 Six Nations. He made only two brief appearances as a sub last year but had been outstanding against Australia before smashing his shoulder.
Ospreys say the injury is similar to the one suffered by Justin Tipuric for the Lions against Japan at Murrayfield. That kept the current Wales captain out of action for 15 months.
A similar recovery time would eliminate Anscombe from another World Cup. His absence from the Six Nations allied to prolonged uncertainty over Leigh Halfpenny leaves Gatland with a potential goalkicking issue.
Having made last-minute withdrawals from two of the autumn Tests amid concerns over his hamstring, Halfpenny failed to make the Scarlets' 23 for today's Challenge Cup home tie against Bayonne.
Should the doubts persist, Gatland would then have to choose between Rhys Priestland and Callum Sheedy as a place-kicking alternative to Dan Biggar.
Gatland's more urgent task will be to pick his team of specialist coaches for the Six Nations. His Grand Slam trio from 2019 – Shaun Edwards, Robbie Mc-Bryde, Rob Howley – left after the last World Cup to be replaced by Gethin Jenkins, Jonathan Humphreys and Stephen Jones.
Whether they all survive Wayne Pivac's sacking depends on talks scheduled for this week. Any more dismissals will cost the WRU money they can ill afford.
