Injured Waratahs and Wallabies prop Angus Bell is hoping a reshaping of his foot will rid him of his injury problems in his quest to return to Rugby.
Bell is on the sidelines again due to a toe injury, caused after a dominant scrum against the Brumbies in Round Seven.
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In a quest to solve the problems, the 23-year-old headed to renowned specialist Ben Forster, the same surgeon who worked on Izack Rodda, to re-model his foot.
“If it was someone else that had done it, it’s only a six-week injury but since it’s me I have to reshape my foot again, which will help in the long run," he told Rugby.com.au
“Biomechanically, I’ve got high arches and a stiff foot so they want to relieve that pressure and lower the shape of my foot.
“I saw a specialist in Queensland who did that along with Izack Rodda and a few other boys and most of the Achilles that have gone through the Wallabies. He’s very trusted and it all went well from all accounts.
“Hopefully I’ll make some of the Test stuff, it’ll all depend on how we sit in the big picture so all I can do right now is put my head down and train as hard as I can…I’ve had the surgery, done my two weeks in the cast and I’ll be ready, stronger and now trying to better myself."
The four-month injury timeline would have Bell ready for the Bledisloe Cup, set to begin in Sydney on September 21.
It's a comforting feeling for Bell to his worst fears alleviated after missing the majority of 2023 with a similar issue.
“It happens on a dominant scrum so we had a good push on the Brumbies and as we were going forward and through them I felt that same sensation,” he recalled.
“I was really lucky in the sense that I’ve done so much rehab and prep on my foot that I didn’t actually do too much damage to the original repair of the tendons in my foot, it was in another area in the foot that needed to be repaired.
“You catastrophise a bit (when it happens) but I got a call from the doctor to say it wasn’t as bad (as last time) so it was a very good call."
Bell has plenty of company in rehab, with seven of the Waratahs' front-rowers ruled out for the rest of the Super season with respective injuries.
“Some of my best mates are with me in rehab like Dan Botha who’s going through an Achilles, Tom Lambert and now Mahe (Vailanu) in the group so we’ve got a pretty good group in terms of blokes to lean on and help," he added.
