Wales lock Dafydd Jenkins sidelined after knee and shoulder surgery

Exeter and Wales lock Dafydd Jenkins faces several weeks on the sidelines after undergoing knee and shoulder surgery.

Chiefs rugby director Rob Baxter says timescales on a playing return are currently “a little bit fluid”, although he will definitely miss the start of the new season.

Exeter kick off their Gallagher Premiership campaign against Leicester on September 21, while Wales’ opening autumn series Test sees them tackling Fiji in Cardiff on November 10.

Jenkins, who has won 19 caps, skippered Wales in all five games of last season’s Six Nations campaign.

The 21-year-old was then unavailable to face South Africa in June, with hooker Dewi Lake taking over as captain for that match and subsequent two-Test Australia tour.

Frustrating

“It is tough and frustrating for Dafydd,” Baxter said.

“He has had surgery on a knee issue sustained on the summer tour with Wales, then he’s had a sore shoulder/rotator-cuff type of injury as well.

“Both the club and Wales feel now is the right time to have them both addressed.

“He is a young man who has played a lot of rugby for both Chiefs and Wales, so it is important that he gets them sorted properly now so that he has that extended period of rehab to get himself back fit and ready for what everyone knows is going to be a very good career.

“Obviously, timescales are a little bit fluid at the moment.

“We’ve got to see in the early initial period of his rehab where he will get to, but one thing we know – from every other injury he has had – is that Dafydd is an incredibly hard worker and rehabber.

“If anybody can accelerate the process of getting back from these operations, then we are sure Dafydd will.”