Flannery can only wait as career hangs in balance

JERRY FLANNERY accepts that the outcome of a recent visit to an eminent German specialist will decide whether he will ever be able to resume his rugby career.

The injury-dogged, 41-times capped hooker acknowledges the work he is doing on the recommendation of German expert Dr Muller Wohlfahrt almost certainly represents the last chance saloon.

Missing out on the Lions tour to South Africa in 2009 because of a dislocated elbow was bad enough but ever since a number of calf muscle injuries have marred Flannery’s career. Surgery and all imaginable kinds of treatment were tried but setback followed setback. And yet, when he came through the four pre-World Cup warm-up matches in August, it looked as if he had at last turned the corner.