Coles eyes Chiefs return date

Editor

New Zealand and Hurricanes hooker Dane Coles is being lined up for a possible return to action against the Chiefs in Wellington on June 9.

Coles has been left out of the ‘Canes’ 26-man touring squad that will head to the Bulls and Force, due to him showing signs of concussion.

That means he is facing a race against time to be deemed fit enough to start in the first Test against British and Irish Lions on June 24.

“His intended or hoped return-to-play date will be against the Chiefs when we come back,” head coach Chris Boyd told Stuff in Wellington.

“You know that an MCL [injury] is x-weeks and a PCL is x-weeks and a rotator-cuff is x-weeks. But with concussion issues, it’s how long’s a piece of string.

“Matt Proctor’s a good example. Matt, he was battling away and then one day I came to work and I noticed that he had a smile on his face and he just basically changed overnight and he was away.

“They don’t all go like that, they’re all different, they’re all unique.”

In other injury news the aforementioned Proctor or Nehe Milner-Skudder could join the Hurricanes in Perth for the match against the Western Force while hooker Coles will follow a detailed training plan back on New Zealand soil.

“He will train twice a day every day next week, but it will all be at a prescribed number of beats per minute of his heart rate. So what they do now is try and ease that up over a period of time,” confirmed head coach Boyd.