Dai Young hopes Ellis Jenkins will have plenty of reasons to smile, as the Cardiff Blues flanker prepares for his long-awaited return from a serious knee injury suffered in 2018.
The 27 year old, who suffered the injury in the final moments of his man-of-the-match display against South Africa, is set to return to action in Friday’s clash against Ospreys at Cardiff Arms Park.
Young has revealed that they are planning on limiting Jenkins’ involvement to 40 minutes but has emphasised the importance of not putting too much pressure on the back row upon his return.
“The first thing is that we don’t want to put too much pressure on Ellis, as you can imagine. Everyone has been really eager to see him back on the field and it’s fantastic that he’s going to have a run out on Friday,” said director of rugby Young.
“Obviously we have to look after him as well, and he’ll probably only play 40 minutes because that’s the right thing to do.
“But he’s been in full training now for a couple of weeks and he’s getting better with every training session.
“We all know that he knows the game inside-out and is a fantastic leader, but my intention is to take some responsibility and pressure off him by getting others to lead around him and leave Ellis Jenkins to worry about Ellis Jenkins for a bit.
“We want him to come off all in-tact, that’s the first thing, but also to come off with a smile on his face. That’s huge.
“Being injured is never a nice place to be, and when you’ve been injured for as long as Ellis has, I’m sure he’s had some dark moments there which he’s had to come through.
“It would be lovely to see him coming off with a smile on his face.
“He’s going to be nervous, and any player coming back from an injury is always going to be nervous, but he’ll be eager to get out there.
“I’m sure he’s looking forward to his first carry, his first tackle, his first jackal and I’m sure he’ll bring them into the game. It’ll just be nice to see him back on the field with a smile on his face.
“We’re planning on starting him because, from past experiences with injured players, if you’ve been out for a while then being on the bench can be even more nerve-racking because you want to get there, do your warm-up and get out on the pitch.
“I think it would be irresponsible to play him any longer than 40 minutes and we’re looking to give him the first half.
“If that goes well, I’m sure Ellis will be nagging to have a bit more time but we need to protect him from himself.
“Last time out against Scarlets he was happy to put himself forward to play in that game, but I felt that he needed a little bit more time in training.”
11-times capped international, Jenkins, has 104 appearances under his belt for Cardiff Blues, having come through the academy ranks at the Arms Park.
Having made his senior debut against Newcastle Falcons in 2011, the back row was appointed club captain ahead of the 2018-19, taking over from Gethin Jenkins months after leading them to European Challenge Cup victory in Bilbao.
According to former British & Irish Lion Young, Jenkins remains a crucial part of the squad both on and off the field due to his professionalism and leadership.
The director of rugby added: “He’s been a big part of the fabric at the Blues for a number of seasons, and he’s somebody that anyone would miss and obviously the Blues have missed him.
“It’ll be great to get him back out because as we all know, he’s not only a good player but he’s a really good leader off the field. Not only with decisions he makes on the field, but also the standards he sets around training and his professionalism.
“He really is important to this set-up and hopefully it will go well for him. We’ve got no reasons to think that it won’t.
“But I won’t be putting too much pressure on him and don’t expect him to be Ellis Jenkins, the international player, straight away. We need to support him to get back to his best.
“I’ve only been back a couple of weeks, but I think he’s at a point where he’s come through the dark days and the worst.
“People might forget that Ellis was coming through the academy when I was here last time and he was a 17 or 18 year old kid who every knew was always going to make it.
“He always had that confident and that cheeky little grin but underneath that he always had real professionalism and that’s something that, unsurprisingly, I’ve witnessed over the last couple of weeks.
“He’s doing everything that he can to be the player that he wants to be and doing the right things nine times out of 10.
“I’m really pleased that we’re only a couple of days away from him going out on that park, and I know it’s bit cheesy to say but I am looking forward to walking off with a smile on his face. It’s been a long time, with a lot of hard work put in to get to where he is now.”