Rugby: The Irish winger tells Johnny Watterson that he's determined to remain patient as he continues to recovery from an Achilles' injury.

While Irish wing Denis Hickie continues to build up his fitness and strength following the ruptured Achilles' tendon injury he sustained last year, he will not be part of Ireland's summer tour to South Africa in June, where Eddie O'Sullivan's side will play the Springboks in two Tests, in Cape Town and Bloemfontein.

Hickie went down in a ruck playing against Australia last summer and didn't get up. It was a seemingly innocuous event in the game but turned out to be the most serious injury of his career. It has been only in the last two or three weeks that the international strike runner has been able to start moving and engage in any sort of aerobic activity.

Having missed out on the World Cup and Ireland's run in the Six Nations Championship, Hickie's sights are now firmly set on making a return to rugby at the beginning of next season.

The decision not to tour is born of a clear and pragmatic approach based on what he has been hearing from his surgeon and physiotherapist. While the probability is that he might be ready to play in the two-Test programme, he has cleared the summer in an effort to come into next season sensibly prepared.

Ireland has scheduled three home games in November against Argentina, South Africa and the US. There is also the small matter of the rejuvenated Geordan Murphy more than capably playing in his position on the left wing.

"I won't be available for the tour and the Irish management are aware of that," he says. "I decided not to go after consultation with the physio and surgeon. It (Achilles' tendon) may or may not be ready by the time the tour comes around. I suppose the way to say it is that it is unlikely to be 100 per cent by then.

"So, yeah, it's a summer of training and getting stronger and fitter. I hope to be fully able to participate in all the pre-season training starting in July."

There's more to the recovery than allowing the rupture to heal. Hickie's cardiovascular fitness and the muscle atrophy on his good as well as his injured leg are serious issues. Since he started to play rugby, he has never been out of the game for as long as he has been over the last 12 months.

"I can't remember the last time I was this unfit. I'm probably at my most unfit ever," he says. "I don't think I've ever had as serious an injury before either, or been out for so long. I haven't been able to do any aerobic stuff of substance up until two or three weeks ago."

Soon after the injury, Hickie spoke to the Irish blind side flanker Simon Easterby, who had to go through the same rehabilitation routine after he suffered a similar problem and went through the same surgical process.

While May was initially targeted as his time for a return, the player, whose primary asset is his explosive speed, is sanguine about letting his return run a little longer. Rather than engaging in an unseemly rush to travel to South Africa, prudence has won out for a more tapered return to the game.

"I'm back jogging for the last week," he says. "And I've just completed a month of preliminary rehabilitation in terms of building up strength because of the muscle wastage. I've just completed a block of five weeks of that. The next stage is more intense, with stabilisation work. Getting back on my feet again, though, is the main thing."

His return should cause a ripple effect next season, although no one is expecting Hickie to immediately arrive on the scene with the same sharp edge as when he left it. The arrival, though, will provide O'Sullivan with his beloved options. That can't be a bad thing.

"The power and endurance isn't there. At the moment, I can jog for about 10 minutes," he says. "I'll have to build it up minute by minute. The main thing now is building up endurance. I get fatigued very fast alright, but I'm getting no trouble from the tendon."