Super Rugby
Ashley-Cooper doesn't know if tendon will hold or snap
ESPN Staff
April 1, 2015
Adam Ashley-Cooper sports his new Bordeaux-Begles colours, Sydney, December 17, 2014
Adam Ashley-Cooper has signed to join Bordeaux-Begles after the World Cup © Twitter
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Adam Ashley-Cooper understands that a tendon behind his right knee might "completely snap" when he returns to rugby.

Ashley-Cooper has already been sidelined for a month, and on Wednesday he all but ruled himself out of New South Wales Waratahs' Super Rugby round-nine fixture against the Stormers as he continues his recovery from a rare injury that has perplexed doctors.

Waratahs and Wallabies coach Michael Cheika had been confident that his centre would return to face the Cape Town-based franchise after the bye in round eight, but Ashley-Cooper, speaking for the first time since breaking down against Melbourne Rebels in round two, said he had to take a cautious approach in this Rugby World Cup year.

"[Waratahs] doctor - Dr Sharon Flahive, who has been working for 26 years in sports medicine, hasn't seen this before, any case like it," he said of his injury. "We contacted the Swans doctor, who'd only had one case in his 35 years. So because it's so very uncommon, so rare, it's hard to put a timeframe on the actual recovery period.

"It's basically day-to-day, and how it responds to rehab. So at the moment I'm confident with how I'm progressing, and I'm hopeful for another three weeks [out]."

Doctors thought initially that Ashley-Cooper had strained a calf muscle against the Rebels, but they later diagnosed the injury as Baker's cyst.

"Which wasn't exactly true," Ashley-Cooper said. "So I'd gone back to training and I'd gone to jump up for a ball and tore the semi-tendinosus, which is the hamstring tendon that attaches at the front of the shin bone.

"I'm confident that it won't linger and it'll get better, but I saw a specialist who said it was hard to say whether it was going to completely hold or completely snap. Time will tell."

Ashley-Cooper said the uncertain nature of the recovery process was making life "tricky".

"I want to be playing," he said. "The pressure to return to playing is always there. The guys are playing well and I want to be a part of that. But I think I've got to be smart in regards to making the right decision for myself, the team and obviously the end-of-year goal, which is the World Cup.

"I'm back running, which is good news. I'm just hopeful that 90 to 100% won't be too long."

© AAP

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