Head coach Mark Jones confirmed in his pre-match press conference today ahead of Judgement Day that the 26-year-old suffered the injury in the first half of the European defeat against Lyon last weekend and will play no further part in the campaign.
The Ospreys travel to the Principality Stadium on Saturday to face Cardiff knowing it is a must-win contest to keep in contention for a place in the URC’s play off placings and will loathe the loss of their double player of the season Morris.
Rhys Davies’ season is also finished and is set to go under the knife, but in more positive news, the outlook on former skipper Justin Tipuric and lock Adam Beard’s own injury issues suffered against the French are more positive.
The experienced Welsh internationals are likely to miss this weekend’s action but are likely to play some part in the run-in.
For Tipuric, it will be a race against time to be fit from pectoral damage for Ospreys final home league match against the Dragons. The flanker’s farewell fixture to the home faithful after over 200 appearances and 16 years of service to the region, whilst Beard will most likely target the mini tour of South Africa for the final games against the Lions and high-flying Sharks.
“It’s a bit of a mixed bag if I’m being honest with you,” said Jones speaking to the media this afternoon.
“We’ve got some guys who are having to go and have some surgical intervention and a couple who we are a lot more positive about, and we will see them around the team in the next couple of weeks.
“Morgan Morris and Rhys Davies are awaiting surgical intervention later this week.
“Morgan has an issue with his foot in terms of the stability of it. The concern is that it isn’t going to fix without intervention so he is going to get that done. We feel that will set him up best for pre-season.
“It isn’t the sort of injury you can play through being mentally tough. He did that before half time [against Lyon] and toughed it out putting in a pretty impressive performance.
“Beardy [Adam Beard] and Tips [Justin Tipuric] have fared up better than we initially thought.
“They will be around selection hopefully between now and the end of the season. What we don’t know is the timescale on that. We’re still waiting to hear back on that.
“There are also those guys who we have a bit of rotation with that we can bring back into the group. We are very grateful to the depth we have in certain positions.
“We’ve had some injuries in the group which has given others an opportunity. Whilst we lose quality and experience, we are looking at what we are gaining with the guys that are coming in to play a role instead.
“Will Griff is now training around the group, as is Harri Deaves so we have some nice quality there coming back along with some of the players who haven’t been selected much recently.
“We are though happy with the group we have to pick from, and it will be a pretty well-oiled and stacked Ospreys team that runs out at the Principality.”
[Lead image: Ospreys Rugby]
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