Wales star ruled out of Australia summer tour in fresh injury blow

Adam Beard is set to miss Wales' summer tour of Australia.

Speaking to the press on Thursday afternoon, Ospreys head coach Toby Booth confirmed that the 28-year-old lock had sustained an injury whilst falling to the ground from a lineout.

Beard will therefore miss the rest of the United Rugby Championship season, and is unlikely to be back in time for Wales' two test against Australia Down Under.

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Ahead of Ospreys' clash against Leinster at the RDS Arena on Saturday, Booth was asked by the media to clarify availability, given it had been two weeks since the team last played.

"Adam Beard's not available," explained Booth.

"He fell out of a lineout and that's quite a distance for him you can imagine, so he's hurt his ankle. He won't be around. Jac Morgan's back in this week.

"I can't see him playing for us for the rest of the year to be fair. That'll be difficult for him and probably going to be difficult for him to tour for the summer. So, like all these things you need to get to a certain point before you can give exact timings, but I would have thought months rather than weeks."

Booth was then asked whether Beard would be back for the Ospreys' pre-season, to which he said: "I would have thought so. Hindsight sometimes as a player is a good thing. He's played a hell of a lot of rugby this year with the World Cup and he has been brilliant.

"He's very durable and doesn't get injured much so it'll be a new experience for him, but ultimately he will come back strong from it and raring to go, no doubt."

Wales will face South Africa in June to kick-off a summer of Test rugby, locking horns with the Springboks at Twickenham Stadium.

From there, it's two Tests against the Wallabies in July, before one match against Queensland Reds to end the tour.