Wales head coach Wayne Pivac has confirmed that Gareth Anscombe will miss their tour to New Zealand next year after suffering a setback in his rehabilitation from an ACL injury.

The pivot was ruled out of the Rugby World Cup after going down during their encounter against England in August.

Anscombe is expected to miss most of the 2019/20 campaign, but his recovery will take longer than expected after having another minor procedure on the knee.

“Gareth’s working his way back from an ACL injury, which has had its problems in the healing process,” Pivac told 1 NEWS.

“He’s looking like he’ll miss the tour to New Zealand unfortunately for Gareth, but the main thing is that he gets that knee right and gets back to 100 per cent of where he was before the injury.”

The Ospreys released a statement which did not rule out the possibility of Anscombe returning before the end of the season, but Pivac effectively ruled him out of touring with Wales.

It read: “As a result of Gareth’s progress plateauing in the last month, and in conjunction with Gareth and his specialist, it was decided that a secondary minor procedure would be in his best interest, with the aim to allow him to progress and accelerate his rehabilitation in the new year.

“Surgery went well and at this stage we’re ruling nothing out with regard to a possible return towards the end of the season. however we’ll be in a better position to clarify a realistic prognosis in the new year when he goes back to see the specialist.”