Fitness boost for Ospreys and Wales lock Ian Evans

Osprey Ian Evans has been capped 16 times by Wales at lock

The foot and ankle injury sustained by Ospreys and Wales lock Ian Evans is not as serious as first feared.

"He is in a fair bit of discomfort [but] his scan has shown that the injury is a fairly diffuse issue," said Ospreys head physio Chris Towers.

"The prognosis is a lot better than originally feared.

"We hope to see a fairly steep recovery once this acute phase of the healing process starts to settle over the next week or so."

The powerful forward will miss Saturday's Magners League visit of Aironi, while the Ospreys will hope to have him back in contention when their Heineken Cup campaign starts in Toulon on 9 October.

Evans, 25, received lengthy treatment on the field after falling awkwardly at a line-out in the Ospreys' 22-10 loss in Munster and played on until replaced by Ian Gough in the 33rd minute.

It was the latest in a series injuries to strike the lock who won the first of 16 caps in 2006 in Argentina.

Evans returned from a chest injury in January, having previously recovered from cruciate knee ligament damage.

He suffered that latter injury in Wales' autumn 2008 defeat by New Zealand and suffered the chest injury - tearing a major tendon in his chest - playing for Swansea against Pontypridd in October, 2009.