Fitzgerald targeting September return after groin surgery

The 26-year-old took the "last resort" three weeks ago on the recurring injury which restricted him to only ten GUINNESS PRO12 appearances for the champions last season.

The 2009 British & Irish Lions tourist has been pencilled in as a possible successor at outside centre for the retired Brian O'Driscoll at both club and international level but for now Fitzgerald is just focusing on getting back on the pitch.

"This will be right. I've just got to take the time now, let everything heal up, do the rehab correctly. It is just a matter of being exact on three months," Fitzgerald told the Irish Independent.

"It's an interesting area, the pelvis, because other players can play through the injury I have, especially props because they don't need as much speed as a back-three player.

"But for someone like me it's a huge deal because if I can't sprint, I can't play. This is not as definitive as an ACL or the knee surgeries I've had. The doctor's pretty confident of the recovery time so we'll see.

"It's a three-month injury but I'm looking at probably getting back first week in September or slightly before that."

Fitzgerald has admitted that his lowest point came when he suffered a reoccurrence of the injury in the lead up to Leinster's European Cup quarter-final clash with Toulon.

But he believes trying to rush back for games last season may have exacerbated the problem.

"It has been an unbelievably frustrating process and I'm sure there are lots of guys who really struggled with it, it wasn't just me," Fitzgerald added.

"I know from talking to a couple of guys in football and that, who I've met through a couple of things, that they've had trouble with it as well.

"I've keep in contact with a few people and it just seems to be a nightmare of an area, some people seem to recover and some don't and I'm obviously that case that didn't.

"It probably stemmed from me pushing that bit too hard to get back for games, so I probably only have myself to blame in certain aspects of it anyway."

Follow us on Facebook, join the conversation on Twitter, sign up to our YouTube channel for extensive match highlights and sign up for our newsletter for regular updates on the GUINNESS PRO12.