Cairns ruled out for rest of the season

Published on Friday 13 January 2012 01:30

EDINBURGH have confirmed that international centre Ben Cairns will undergo a second operation on the knee injury he suffered in pre-season, ruling him out of the rest of the season.

The 26-year-old, the club’s joint top Heineken Cup try-scorer with Chris Paterson on nine, still has another year on his contract and Bradley is not seeking to use the opt-out clause invoked last summer with some capital players who were offloaded due to missing more than six months through injury.

Cairns injured his knee initially in a pre-season friendly against Sale Sharks and had returned to full team training as part of his recovery from ‘key-hole’ surgery. However, in a session in December, he ruptured the joint’s anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the knee now requires a full reconstruction. Cairns will undergo surgery at the Spire Murrayfield Hospital at the end of January and has been set the target of returning for Edinburgh’s pre-season preparations, with the last pre-season match the target for his return to the field.

Edinburgh’s lead physiotherapist Stuart Paterson commented: “There are known risks in rehabilitating a damaged ACL and, unfortunately, in this case the ligament has not been able to withstand the rigours of professional rugby training. Rehabilitation guidelines for this type of operation suggest that he’ll be available for a large part of pre-season, but the important thing is to give his knee time to heal, mature and stabilise.

“Eight months to the date of surgery would be around the time of our last pre-season game and that’s an achievable goal for Ben to return to his best.”

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