Wales' Grand Slam star Mike Phillips has been hit by the cruel reality of life as a professional rugby player after suffering a knee injury that will keep him out of action for the next six months.
Phillips, 25, damaged two ligaments in the Ospreys' EDF Energy Cup semi-final win over Saracens at the Millennium Stadium last Saturday — just a week after he had danced around the same arena celebrating Wales' triumphant Six Nations campaign.
A specialist today confirmed Phillips requires surgery and he will now miss the Ospreys' challenge for an EDF Energy Cup and Heineken Cup double and Wales' two summer Tests against world champions South Africa.
The injury is a tough blow for Phillips, who had established himself as Wales' first-choice scrum-half during the Grand Slam and was shortlisted as one of the six players of the tournament.
Earlier, England and Leicester Tigers flanker Lewis Moody said today he was "devastated" to be missing the rest of the season through injury.
A ruptured right Achilles tendon forced the openside off during England's Six Nations opener against Wales and he has not played since.
Today Moody revealed the full extent of the damage. He said: "The specialist told me I'm going to be out for 16 weeks, which means I won't play for the rest of the season. I'm absolutely devastated.
"I've had my Achilles scraped, which is basically where all the loose scar tissue is cleared out. I've got a 50 per cent rupture of the tendon.
"I'm really, really disappointed, not so much because I'll miss England's tour to New Zealand this summer but because the Tigers are in the EDF final, and I can't imagine them not also being in the League final too. Every game you miss is a game you can never get back."
