TALENTED centre Heath Stevens could be out of action for up to four months after sustaining a serious hamstring injury in pre-season.
The 22-year-old, who joined Worcester Warriors from Plymouth Albion this summer, picked up the injury in the latter stages of Warriors’ friendly against Ospreys last month.
Director of rugby Dean Ryan revealed Stevens recently went under the knife to repair the problem. But the Warriors boss said he may not see the former Coventry star back in a Worcester shirt until the start of next year as he recovers from the operation.
“Heath has had to have an operation as he has broken two of the heads off his hamstring, which is pretty painful and quite serious,” Ryan said.
“He will now go through the rehab, so as it is such a significant injury we are probably looking at three or four months before we see him back.”
Ryan said he was disappointed not to have Stevens available for the start of the season, but he was confident the Northampton-born back would come back stronger from the injury.
“I had been really impressed with him in pre-season, but now he has been robbed of his chance, so I know he’ll be disappointed,” Ryan added.
“But one of the aspects of growing as a professional player is understanding how to manage yourself during injuries, so we are as excited as we have always been about Heath. But we are just going to have to put that excitement on hold for three or four months.”