Orlando Pirates co-caretaker coach Mandla Ncikazi has given an update on the return of Thembinkosi Lorch following his long injury layoff.
Lorch is yet to feature for the Buccaneers this season after suffering a serious shoulder injury in a “freak accident” at home, which required surgery.
Ncikazi has now confirmed that Lorch is back in training but it will still take time before he has fully recovered.
“I’m happy that Lorch has started training with the team, but we’re still cautious because he has some processes he must go through” Ncikazi said on the Ultimate Sport Show.
“He is back, he had a shoulder injury. You know there is these shoulders that come out and go back.
“I had the same injury in my days, sometimes it heals on it’s own but based on the recommendation of our medical team, it was important that he does the surgery so that it doesn’t happen again.
“So one, we are avoiding contact with him, especially now. He’s playing but we make him a neutral to avoid contact as much as possible.
“It looks promising and it looks positive and I’m hoping and wishing that he should be back soon.”
When quizzed whether Lorch could return before the end of the year, Ncikazi indicated that he could feature in December.
“I wish he was back tomorrow but we have to wait for medical advises. He has started training partially, he’s not going full contact,” he added.
“I’m hopeful that before the end of December, we’d love to see him playing to the best of his ability.”
Pirates take on Baroka on Thursday evening at 19:30 and could climb into third position on the log.
