Brumbies prop Schoupp ruled out for season with ruptured Achilles

ACT Brumbies prop Blake Schoupp faces a lengthy period on the sidelines after coach Stephen Larkham said the Australia international had suffered a ruptured Achilles in Saturdays Super Rugby Pacific win over the Queensland Reds.

Schoupp, who has played five times for the Wallabies, was forced off the field with 18 minutes remaining of the Brumbies 39-26 victory at Lang Park in Brisbane having sustained the injury in a scrum.

My understanding at this stage is that hes snapped his Achilles, Larkham said at the post-match press conference. Hell need an operation and then the rehab from there will be up around nine months.

Well get on top of that straight away. Theres a really good surgeon in Brisbane so hopefully thats the process going forward now, he gets an operation in the next couple of days and then gets into rehab.

The injury will rule Schoupp out of the rest of the Super Rugby campaign and also ends his hopes of claiming a place in the Wallabies squad to face the British and Irish Lions later in the year.

Team mate Len Ikitau, meanwhile, will miss the Brumbies meeting on Saturday with Moana Pasifika after leaving the field with a head injury against the Reds.

Lennys got a concussion, he was knocked out so itll be at least 12 days now (until he can) return to play, which means he misses the game next week against Moana, said Larkham.

Saturdays win over the Reds moved the Brumbies up to third in the Super Rugby standings, five points adrift of the table-topping Canterbury Crusaders as the regular season moves into the second half of the schedule.

In this competition youve got to make sure youre playing well both at home and when youre on the road, said Larkham.

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