Further injury blows for Dan Fish and Cardiff RFC

Cardiff Blues full-back Dan Fish received another injury setback last week as it was confirmed he will miss the rest of the season with an elbow injury.

The 26-year-old was only making his Cardiff Blues return after 12 months out with a hamstring injury suffered in the trip to Connacht last season, having been phased back into action slowly.

After making six Cardiff RFC appearances, as well as appearing for the Cardiff Blues Premiership Select XV in the British and Irish Cup, he was named in the Anglo-Welsh Cup side that travelled to Kingston Park.

However 43 minutes into the game suffered an injury to the elbow which is likely to keep him out for the remainder of the 2017/18 season.

A big blow for Fish, having only just overcome the serious hamstring injury, as well as both Cardiff Blues and RFC losing a well-liked player of high quality, and further restricting him to just 18 appearances in two seasons.

For the RFC this only exacerbates an injury problem that seems to get worse every week.

Jordan Viggers (ankle), Aled Rees (ankle) and Lewys Montague (knee) are still out from pre-season, while club captain Joey Tomlinson and back rower Dan Crimmins will both miss the rest of the season with respective knee injuries.

Gareth Thompson (knee) and Jack Phillips (hamstring) are both ruled out for a few weeks after picking up their injuries at Merthyr, while last weekend’s trip to Cross Keys saw Miles Normandale and Tom Daley (both ankle) set to miss a few weeks themselves.

With Jim Botham (ankle) still a week or two away from fitness it leaves the injury list at a whopping 10, excluding Dan Fish.

The RFC are also likely to be without James Down and Owen Lane who are involved with the Blues over the next few weeks, while young quartet Rhys Carre, Joe Miles, Ben Thomas and Daf Smith are likely to be called up by Wales U20s shortly.

Head coach Steve Law will have to draw on all his contacts and knowledge of the Welsh domestic game to bolster the squad, which he has already done with the shrewd permit signings of Chris Williams, Bleddyn Williams and Luke Fish, while former Cardiff Blues academy hooker Corrie Tarrant has signed from Pontypridd.

Cardiff RFC travel to Eugene Cross Park to take on Ebbw Vale at 12:00 on Saturday, needing a win to keep in touch with Bedwas, Merthyr and Pontypridd in the top half of the Premiership’s East Division.