THE injury-plagued career of Bath scrum-half Gareth Cooper took another turn for the worse yesterday when injury forced him out of Wales' summer tour to South Africa.
Cooper (right), who has seen the past 18 months of his career hampered by persistentinjuries, suffered another flare-up of recurring foot problem during Bath's Zurich Premiership clash against Wasps on Sunday.
That forced him to pull out of the two-Test series against the Springboks, during which Cooper who turned 23 last week was hoping to establish himself as Wales no 1 scrum-half following the retirement of Rob Howley.
Cooper missed the entire Six Nations campaign through the injury which followed another setback last October when he broke a bone in his foot shortly before the start of Bath's Heineken Cup campaign.
Llanelli's Dwayne Peel will now be first-choice no 9 with Cardiff's uncapped Ryan Powell coming in for Cooper.
GLOUCESTER are thought to be on the trail of full-back Thinus Delport, who is set to follow fellow South Africans Andre Vos and Pieter Rossouw by signing for a Zurich Premiership club.
The Natal Sharks star made his Test debut in 2000 and has won 12 caps.
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