Campese misses out on France to prepare for Trinity

Hull Kingston Rovers' Terry Campese (Picture: Jonathan Gawthorpe).

He finally returned from a hamstring injury in Sunday’s Magic Weekend defeat to Hull FC.

The stand-off, 31, initially suffered the problem at Huddersfield in March – his first game back after nine months out with a knee reconstruction.

However, when returning at Leeds Rhinos in April, the Australian endured a relapse and missed another seven weeks.

For all Campese, at last, negotiated 80 minutes against FC, Rovers’ head of rugby Jamie Peacock explained the club will not risk him in tomorrow’s game against Catalans Dragons.

The club have opted to fly in and out of Perpignan tomorrow to give themselves a better chance of victory and also more time to prepare for their next game just five days later.

Peacock said: “However, we are aware that the situation is not ideal, especially for somebody with Terry’s circumstances.

“To his credit, Terry put his hand up and pushed himself as hard as possible to return a week ahead of schedule and play in the derby in Newcastle.

“His influence on the side and leadership qualities were clear to see and he has come through the match and returned to training this week without any problems.

“It is important now that we manage his workload and keep him healthy for the rest of the season. We feel the risk outweighs the potential benefit of him playing this week.”

He will return at Wakefield Trinity next Thursday as Rovers seek the points potentially to break into the top eight.

Writing exclusively in his Yorkshire Post blog, Campese said: “It was certainly good to get back out there with the boys at Magic Weekend. It’s been a long time coming, but I felt good and really enjoyed it, even though the result didn’t go our way.

“I’m obviously disappointed not to be playing this weekend against Catalans because I wanted to back up and go again.

“I returned ahead of schedule, but three games in 12 days just isn’t the best thing at the moment, particularly with the travel involved to France.

“We’ve a long journey and then a short turnaround to Wakefield, so it just doesn’t make sense unfortunately. We’ve sat down with the medical staff and the best decision we’ve come up with is for me not to play, but then be fine for Wakefield and the rest of the season.”