Gloucester Director of Rugby George Skivington has confirmed second-rowers Cam Jordan and Matias Alemanno will miss the rest of the season through injury, with Jordan also likely to miss a chunk of the next campaign. 

The pair have been mainstays in the Gloucester match-day squad this season, however Skivington will have to adapt to life without them for the rest of this campaign.

Speaking on Cam Jordan, Skivington said: “Cam is out for the season. He picked up a nasty knee injury against Castres. I don’t think Cam will be back for the start of next season, so it’s a significant one. Cam was in really good form, so it’s unfortunate; but that’s the nature of the beast.”

Jordan moved to Kingsholm in 2020, and has since gone onto play nearly 50 games for the club.

Fellow second-rower Alemanno joined in the same season, and has quickly become a main-stay in Skivington’s side. His form in Cherry and White also earned him a spot in Argentina’s World Cup squad.

Speaking on Alemanno’s injury, Skivington said: “Mattie will be back for next season, but he is unfortunately out until the end of the season. He’s certainly is a big loss, anyone would miss Matty Alemanno in their side.”

With two front-line forwards out of the squad, Skivington said he will use it as a chance to blood some youngsters ahead of next season.

“We have a couple of good young locks, I want to give them a bit more exposure at the back end of the season; so come the start of pre-season, we’re very clear on what they need to work on.”

Skivington offers further update on Gloucester stars Val Rapava-Ruskin and Ollie Thorley

It’s not just in the engine room where Gloucester are struggling with injuries. Star prop Val Rapava-Ruskin has had an injury plagued season, and despite returning during the Premiership Cup run to the final, Skivington said it’s a tough injury to manage.

“It’s been a battle with Val this season. This grumbly knee that we tried to sort out at the beginning, and then he came back for the Prem Cup final, and then it grumbled up again.

“It’s in a funny spot. It will go with no pain and he’s good to go and then it can flare up quite easily. We’re we’re in a compromised position where we week to week we’re making decisions. We haven’t quite got a definitive plan around him because it reacted differently than we thought it would when he came back.

Whilst he admitted it’s been a ‘battle’, Skivington believes his star prop isn’t ‘a million miles away’: “He’s not a million miles away. I think we’re all just desperate to get it right because we don’t want another season where Val’s hardly featured. I would love to have Val fit for selection every week and I want to make sure we do that without keep compromising ourselves because it’s very frustrating when one of your best players is hardly played all season.”

Another key player for Gloucester is Ollie Thorley. The England international picked up a knock in their round-of-16 victory over Castres, but in a rare bit of good news for the Cherry and Whites, it seems he is available this weekend.

“Ollie is back fit now,” Skivington confirmed. “He took a bang against Castres, but he’s fine now.”