Mallia faces months out after second serious knee injury in a year for Argentina

Juan Cruz Mallia limped out of Argentina’s Nations Championship defeat to Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Friday night with what appears to be a serious right knee injury, raising fears the Toulouse back has damaged the same joint on which he underwent ACL reconstruction less than twelve months ago.

The 30-year-old was caught by a late tackle from Ireland lock James Ryan in midfield, a scenario grimly familiar to those who watched Mallia rupture his anterior cruciate ligament following a late challenge from England back-rower Tom Curry during a 27-23 loss in last year’s Autumn Nations Series. That injury required surgery and kept him out for the best part of a year.

Mallia has returned to Toulouse for further medical examinations to determine the full extent of the damage, according to French outlet Le Figaro, with the Top 14 club anxiously awaiting results. No official timeframe has been placed on his recovery, but reports in France indicate Toulouse are considering activating a medical joker signing should the injury prove serious enough to sideline him for an extended period.

The news compounds a difficult week for Toulouse, who are also monitoring the fitness of France fly-half Romain Ntamack. The 25-year-old dislocated his shoulder just 33 minutes into his return for Les Bleus against Fiji and is not expected to be available again until the New Year.

For Mallia, the cruelty of the situation is hard to overstate. A versatile and dynamic presence at full-back or in the back three, he had only recently returned to form for both club and country after the long rehabilitation from his first ACL injury. Whether the new damage is of comparable severity remains to be confirmed, but the circumstances — the same knee, a similar mechanism of injury — have understandably alarmed those around him.