Ospreys and Wales hope Lake returns in Six Nations
Ospreys head coach Mark Jones hopes his Wales hooker Dewi Lake will play some rugby during the Six Nations.
Lake has been ruled out of most of the tournament because of a bicep injury and is continuing his rehabilitation with Wales.
The Ospreys hooker will definitely miss Wales' opening away matches against France and Italy but there are still hopes he could feature later in the tournament.
"I have only been in text contact with Dewi and have not spoken to him face-to-face but the words from our physios, who are liaising with the Welsh medics, is he is progressing well," said Jones.
"They are hoping they can get him into a situation where he can play some rugby during the Six Nations which would be great.
"But we are all pretty keen to make sure that is not to the detriment of Dewi and he comes through this and is able to play for the rest of the season."
Lake, 25, skippered Wales on the summer tour of Australia and the autumn series with his fellow 2023 World Cup co-captain Jac Morgan given the responsibility for the Six Nations.
The pair have also recently both signed new Ospreys deals.
"That is huge," said Jones.
"They are two of our best players, both Wales captains, so the message they are sending to the club is they want to be here and putting the Ospreys shirt on.
"It signals our intent to keep players like this.
"It's difficult at the moment with the financial market to keep hold of your best players but the work the club are doing around that is class.
"It shows we want to keep those boys for a long time."
