Kyle Steyn has been dealt a devastating double blow with the winger expected to miss Glasgow Warriors' URC double header in South Africa and the upcoming Scotland internationals through injury.
The 30-year-old scored three tries in Glasgow’s opening two URC fixtures before sustaining a lower leg injury and he missed their last two games. Steyn revealed the initial diagnosis was positive and he expected to return during the Warriors’ two-game tour of South Africa but there's been a setback.
It’s now feared that the injury is worse than initially believed with Steyn expected to be sidelined for between six and eight weeks.
That time scale would rule him out of the four Scotland games in the Autumn Nations Series, where Steyn would have been in contention for a starting role under Gregor Townsend.
While Warriors head coach Franco Smith was keen to avoid ruling out a quicker return, it doesn’t look good for the Glasgow captain.
“Unfortunately, Kyle withdrew yesterday,” Smith confirmed. “We scanned him on Monday, then scanned him on Wednesday when we got here. And it looks like it’s more serious than we thought originally.
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“It will then become a six-week, six to eight-week injury. But the confirmation will come on Monday, so that will be more clear. But for now, he's not available for this game and most likely not for next week either.
“I think it will be a disappointment.We need confirmation also from the doctors in Scotland next week and the week after with this precise plan. We will obviously make sure that we get him back on the field as soon as possible.
"But I do not want to rule anything out for him at this moment. It's a subtle injury that can be treated conservatively. So we'll just see how he progresses. But it looks like it's a little bit longer term than just two weeks.”
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