Gleeson out for 6 months
Leinster and Ireland openside flanker, Keith Gleeson, has had surgery on his broken leg. It appears that he fractured his fibula and tibia and looks set to miss a minimum of six months.
Leinster and Ireland openside flanker, Keith Gleeson, has had surgery on the broken leg he sustained at training yesterday.
Gleeson was training with Leinster at Anglesea Road when the unfortunate incident occurred. The squad had been doing defensive drills under Irish defensive coach Mike Ford when the accident occurred. Rather like Geordan Murphy’s broken leg sustained against Scotland, the incident looked relatively innocuous. However, it now appears that Gleeson may miss the best part of the season as he fractured his fibula and tibia.
Gleeson had only just been given the all-clear to resume full training after suffering his broken arm against Italy in January. Having missed out on Ireland’s Triple Crown and tour to South Africa, he will now certainly miss the Heineken Cup and Ireland’s Autumn internationals, and it will be remarkable if he is back to play in any of this season’s 6 Nations.
The incident is also a continuation of Leinster’s bad luck with injuries, which so hampered their season last year. The advent of the new management team doesn’t appear to have changed that much. Having not toured in South Africa, Gleeson was set to be one the international players available to Leinster in the short term, as those that toured are undergoing a different pre-season routine that makes them unavailable to the management for the first three Celtic League fixture.