Dollman to miss summer tour

By Mark Stevens
6/6/17

Exeter Chiefs head coach Rob Baxter has expressed his sadness after it was confirmed Phil Dollman will miss out on the chance to make his international debut.

It was only a fortnight ago that the 32-year-old was celebrating with team-mates after being selected by interim coach Robin McBryde for Wales’ upcoming summer tour to face Samoa and Tonga.

Just days later, however, Dollman’s dream of pulling on the Welsh jersey was brought to an end when he was forced to limp out of the action during Exeter’s Aviva Premiership final victory over Wasps at Twickenham.

Having scored the second of his side’s tries at HQ, the talented full-back was forced off early in the second half with a knee injury.

Subsequent scans revealed Dollman had indeed torn a knee ligament and that he would spend much of the summer working his way back to fitness ahead of the 2017/18 season.

Baxter says he expects the player to be fit before the start of the new season but revealed his sadness at Dollman being unable to finally play for his country.

He said: "I saw Phil at the club on Monday and he was working with the physios on rehab. It is one of those really annoying knee injuries where he will probably be fit by the start of the season but he needs to be fit now.

"It is really unfortunate for Phil. I am really pleased that he ended up playing in a winning Premiership final so at least he had the satisfaction of winning that game before being ruled out.

"I know he was desperately looking forward to going on tour and it meant an awful lot to him. It is a real shame as it would have been a really nice thing to achieve at the end of the season, but he has been very unfortunate.

"I know what Phil is like though, he will work very hard to maximise the scenario he is in now. It is not anything that requires an operation, just a length of rehab. It is a certain level of tear. It is one of those ones which needs conservative management and time to heal."