Gareth Anscombe has vowed to get fit and return to the field despite having his dream move to Japan wrecked by injury.

The Wales outside-half and Sportin’ Wales columnist insists he can recover quickly after undergoing surgery for a groin problem and is aiming to be back running again within 10 weeks.

Anscombe had been due to take up a contract in Japanese club rugby with leading side Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath.

But that move collapsed with the recurrence of a groin injury that first plagued him during the World Cup in France in the warm-up before Wales’ World Cup clash with Georgia.

That setback led to the cancellation of his registration with Suntory, who have since signed Argentine rugby star Nicolas Sanchez as his replacement.

In a post in Twitter, Anscombe said: “Devastated to find out the groin injury I sustained around the time of the World Cup meant I required minor surgery, but happy to say it went well and I should be back up and running in the next 8-10 weeks.

“Mixed emotions right now, but I’m focused on getting myself back fit.”

The move to Japan had ruled Anscombe out of contention for Wales for the Six Nations, although he was keen to make himself available for next summer’s tour to Australia.

On the field, it was another painful weekend for the Welsh team in European competition.

All four Welsh regions lost, leaving them with a collective record of two victories from their opening eight matches.

Last season Toby Booth’s Ospreys side completed a notable double over the then French champions in the Champions Cup, but they were no match for Montpellier out in France, where they lost, 38-5 in the European Challenge Cup.

“It’s always difficult when you’re away in Europe against a very big and physical Montpellier team. We struggled with the physicality really, there were a lot of youngsters out there and we had some disruption through the week,” said Ospreys head coach, Booth.

“I was really proud of the effort, but if you’re getting physically outmuscled, you’ve got to be accurate. We probably got in the right field positions but couldn’t convert.”

The French side secured a second European victory to take them top of Pool Two, while Ospreys drop to fourth.

Head coach Booth also saw Wales loose head prop Nicky Smith leave the game early with a shoulder injury.

The Dragons temporarily held on to top spot in Pool One of the EPCR Challenge Cup after picking up a bonus point during a last-minute, 24-21 defeat to Pau at Stade du Hameau in the French Pyrenees.

But the Welsh region will be kicking themselves at throwing away a gilt-edged chance for a second victory in this season’s tournament and back-to-back successes at Pau after winning at the ground last term.

Dragons head coach Dai Flanagan said: “It’s a tough result.

“It’s painful losing at any time, especially when you look at the two teams and look at the performance,” he said.

“I thought we were well-rounded – we were a good rugby team tonight.

“It’s just disappointing that the three tries conceded, we were in control of all three and we need to be better.

Cardiff coach Matt Sherratt insisted there was pride to be taken from his young team’s 39-32 defeat to Bath at the Arms Park, even though they conceded six tries a week after conceding seven tries against Toulouse.

“I’m proud of the players to go toe-to-toe with the best team in the Premiership at the moment. It’s a credit to some of the boys out there,” said Sherratt.

“I knew we were going to get a good emotional response, it was just whether we could put enough quality action on the pitch that added to that emotional response. I think in the end we did. It was a one-score game again.”

On Friday night, the Scarlets suffered a humiliating 23-7 home defeat to Black Lion from Georgia and were booed off the field.

Dwayne Peel’s team have now lost seven of their nine matches in all competitions this season and the head coach admitted: “it’s been a tough start to the season.

“We are where we are and we have the squad we have, and for us we need to be better in our performances.

“We know we’ve got players out and have injuries and there will be a number of players who will be available over the next couple of weeks and that will add energy and boost the squad no doubt.

“But first we’ll look at the performance and some of the performance was fundamentally poor, that’s the truth tonight.”