CONNACHT COACH PETE Wilkins has not ruled out marquee signing Santiago Cordero making an appearance before the end of season, with the Argentine international on course for action at the end of May.
And Irish international Mack Hansen is also on course to return from the shoulder injury which saw him miss the Six Nations and he’s set to be back in action for Connacht in mid-April, possibly for their home URC tie against Zebre or maybe even a week earlier if they advance to the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup.
Wilkins has not ruled out that Cordero, signed last summer from Bordeaux-Bègles, will see action before the season is out. The 30-year is probably Connacht’s biggest signing of an established overseas international since All Black star Mils Muliania arrived for a season under Pat Lam in 2014.
But Cordero, capped 50 times by the Pumas and who broke Irish hearts at the 2015 World Cup when they reached the semi-finals, suffered a serious knee injury in his first week training with Connacht after arriving in Galway last July.
The initial projected return date of April has been pushed out to the end of May — Connacht’s last scheduled URC game is against Leinster on May 31 — but Wilkins said it has not been ruled out that he could make his bow before the summer rather than wait until the start of next season.
“Honestly, it has to be confirmed and that’s not me sitting on the fence,” said Wilkins. “I think that is probably the nature of these injuries where you get down to that last month or last two months and you either know you are going to be right or you are not.
“I think that is him physically but also mentally that he can get enough rugby and dynamic training under his belt to have real confidence in the knee.
“He has been running for the past couple of weeks, he is out there today doing some change of direction stuff with the ball in hand, just with the rehab stuff.
“He is absolutely on target but you hear about the major knee injuries, some guys come back at nine months, some come back at 12.
“It really does come down to that last period and seeing how he is tracking. We will have to see how much rugby then and where we are at. It is a positive case scenario for us to make it back then.”
Cordero, who was replaced in Bordeaux-Bègles by French star Damien Penaud, scored 14 tries for Argentina and arrived in Galway earlier than expected last summer after being left out of the Pumas World Cup squad by head coach Michael Cheika.
Connacht fans are looking forward to seeing him in a backline with Hansen, and Wilkins said that the Irish winger should be back on schedule by the middle of next month.
“We are confident with him,” added Wilkins. “The nature of the injury is a bit more black and white in terms of the surgery and the rehab and especially for him as well the fact that he has had that type of injury and been through that rehab before, he knows the goalposts as he works through that.”
Wilkins knows that Irish coach Andy Farrell and his management will be keeping a close eye on Hansen’s recovery as they begin preparations for the two-match tour to South Africa.
“It is not a conversation we have had directly but they will be keeping tabs on his progress,” added Wilkins, whose side host the Lions at Dexcom Stadium in the URC on Saturday afternoon.
