Having been given the first shot at filling the No 10 jersey vacated by the legendary Dan Biggar, the young Ospreys outside half lasted a mere 38 minutes before coming off with what has now been diagnosed as a broken leg.
A medical release from the Ospreys has confirmed that the 22-year-old former Wales Under 20 player fractured his tibia in the 17-13 win over Edinburgh and has been ruled out of action for the remainder of 2018.
“Although the injury doesn’t require surgery, Luke faces a period of rehabilitation and is looking at a best case scenario of four months out of action,” the release revealed.
Wales international Sam Davies came off the bench to help steer the Ospreys home and is now in poll position to make the jersey his own. The Ospreys’ other outside halves are the former Wales Grand Slammer James Hook and Wales Under 20 cap Cai Evans.
Head coach Allen Clarke will now have to make a call on whether or not to look for an additional player to bolster his options in the pivotal position in the side.
“Luke is a fine young man, he has youth on his side and he has shown resilience before and he will come back
and it will be this season, which is great,” said Clarke.
“It is hugely disappointing. I suppose in situations like this you think the absolute worst and then you hope for the best as well – it is somewhere in between in that it could have been a lot worse.
“Sam and James are quality players and you could see at the weekend how Sam marshalled us around the field against Edinburgh. We were delighted with the cohesion he showed and James has trained fantastically well during the summer.
“If we bring in someone from the outside it has to be the right person and the right quality of player. We will concentrate on the boys we have at the moment but it is something we need to monitor.”
