Trimble To Miss Summer Tour
Andrew Trimble will miss Ireland’s summer tour of Canada and the USA next month as he undergoes surgery on a damaged knee.
Last Friday’s Magners League defeat by Cardiff was Andrew Trimble’s last game of the season for Ulster.
This Thursday the 24-year-old winger will undergo an operation to remove a chip behind his right patella, ruling him out of the province’s final league fixtures against Connacht and the Scarlets.
It also means he will not be available for Ireland’s fast-approaching summer tour to Canada and the USA.
He missed last year’s summer tour to New Zealand and Australia due to knee and groin injuries.
Trimble’s latest injury will see him requiring 12 weeks of rehabilitation before he can return to gym or pitch work.
“The operation is something that has to be done and now is the right time to do it,” he said.
“I feel it (the knee) is something which has affected me this season.
“I’m not prepared to go on with it and I really have not enjoyed this season as much as I know I could have.”
The Coleraine man, who signed a new two-year contract with Ulster in October, was part of Ireland’s extended RBS 6 Nations squad but failed to feature during the Grand Slam run.
He played for the Ireland ‘A’ side in their 35-10 win over Scotland at the RDS in February.
“I am competitive and I know I have a lot more to offer both Ulster and Ireland,” Trimble told the News Letter.
“I want to come back at the races at the start of the new season and really have a go at playing well for Ulster and getting back on the Ireland radar again.”