Rugby: Long wait nearly over for Somerville

It has been a long time on the sidelines for injured Crusaders' prop Greg Somerville, but the end is now in sight.

Somerville has been out of action for eight months, after rupturing his Achilles tendon during the All Blacks' Tri Nations test against South Africa in August.

His recovery suffered a major setback in January when he had to undergo a second operation after developing a cyst on the tendon.

However, Somerville says he has been making good progress since then and is now able to run around a bit.

He says he is on track with his rehabilitation and has not suffered any further setbacks with the injury.

Somerville expects to be back playing club rugby in June and has not given up his dream of playing in the World Cup in France later this year.

He says the All Black management has been monitoring his rehabilitation and saw how he was progressing at the conditioning camps.

Somerville believes he will probably be getting feedback via Crusaders coach Robbie Deans and the team trainer.

- NEWSTALK ZB