Rugby World Cup
Alex Dunbar heading to the States as he targets Rugby World Cup place
ESPN Staff
June 22, 2015
Alex Dunbar
Alex Dunbar© (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Alex Dunbar will head to America next week as he bids to regain his fitness in time to make Scotland's World Cup squad.

The Glasgow Warriors centre has not played since rupturing his cruciate ligament while preparing for the Calcutta Cup match against England in March.

Dunbar has been included in Scotland's World Cup training squad as he recovers from knee surgery, though, and will now spend three weeks in Philadelphia with specialist Bill Knowles.

The Scottish Rugby Union's head of performance medical, Paul McGinley, said: "We're pleased to say that Alex remains on schedule at this stage and that, 14 weeks down the line, he is now in the right place for this trip to the States.

"Evidence suggests that the earliest you could expect somebody to safely recover from ACL reconstruction is around six months, and that is tight; but that's the timescale to which we're working if he is to feature in the Rugby World Cup.

"That's been the focus from the start. We're doing everything we can to give him the best chance of keeping to that timeline and making the competition, while paying close attention to his long-term welfare.

"There's another, crucial, rehabilitation phase coming up, with the view to getting him game-time before the World Cup, providing we can stick to the recovery schedule."

Dunbar will return to the Scotland set-up to have his knee assessed once he completes his rehabilitation in Philadelphia.

England and Northampton full-back Ben Foden recently returned from a similar trip to see Knowles and is confident he can force his way into World Cup reckoning.

© ESPN Staff

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