By Duncan Wood
December 3 2002

Bristol Shoguns have confirmed that Mike Lipman will be out until the New Year. The former Australian U21 openside flanker has taken a number of blows to the head and has flown home to recover over Christmas.

After a certain amount of speculation on the messageboards, the official site, www.bristolshoguns.co.uk, has confirmed that Lipman has flown home to aid his recovery from a number of knocks to the head.

His last appearance was in the away league fixture against Sale when he was forced to leave the field early on and was replaced by Chris Morgan. However, it has emerged that he also took blows to the head against Leinster and Gloucester the latter presumably being when he collided with Daryl Gibson!

Injuries to the head have to be treated with great care and one can only applaud the decision to give Mike the appropriate amount of time to fully recover. The revelation this year from Dean Ryan that he now suffers from epilepsy as a result of 3 concussions in short succession serves as a stark warning.

Commenting on the club site, Peter Thorburn said:

"We've allowed Michael to go back to Australia for a few weeks to recover. Michael is too valuable a player to us to not have him around, but he's got a fitness programme to work on and he can catch up with his friends and family, including his twin brother. I'm sure he'll enjoy training in the sunshine and on the beach. Number sevens get hit from all different angles. Michael's a fine open side flanker and we have no doubt that he'll be back full of beans in the new year."

So, that should put an end to all the rumours about Super 12 contracts. He's due to fly back early in the New Year to pick up where he left off.

In the meantime, Bristol will presumably be looking to Craig Short to carry on playing at openside with the replacements being Chris Morgan and maybe Rhys Oakley.