INJURY TAUT ME TO LOVE PLAYING

JACO TAUTE has spent most of the past year studying financial management rather than playing rugby but now all he wants to do is start counting the minutes of game-time for Munster.

The South African centre suffered a serious knee injury against Cardiff in September and can’t wait to make his return away to Glasgow on Friday evening.

The 27-year-old said: “It has been a long time and, I’m not going to lie, it’s been difficult to come back from a serious injury. Luckily, I’ve been there before and I know what to expect and how to deal with the process. It’s been a long year but I’m fully fit.”

The three-time capped Springbok knew he needed something to fill his time — ‘or to stay off the Playstation’ — so he completed his degree in financial management from the University of South Africa.

“It’s great to be back and playing rugby and not just rehabilitating in the gym because that gets lonely,” he said.

“They keep you very busy when you are rehabilitating. You are here (in the High Performance Centre at UL) five days a week and they make sure you are on track but in my spare time I did manage to study and that went well.”

He has had his centre partner Chris Farrell, inset, with him for company over the past six months on the recovery circuit and that has been a help as they both try to deal with the frustration of being injured.

Taute added: “Unfortunately he got injured when he was playing really well for Ireland so it was tough for him as well, but it’s better in a situation like that that you can spend time together, vent with each other, work hard in the gym together and just talk sometimes that helps.

“Hopefully for him I was a big help while I was still injured and he’s also on track with his rehab. He also did his ACL, he’s also done that before, so he’s in good spirits because he knows what to do. He a big professional, big strong boy so he’ll also get through it.”