Andy Symons has jetted off to America in a bid to speed up his recovery from a serious knee injury.
The 24-year-old made 22 appearances in the Greene King IPA Championship for Worcester Warriors and became a key figure as he also took over the kicking duties.
But Symons’ season was cut short when he sustained cruciate ligament damage ahead of the play-off semi-final second leg against London Scottish in May.
Warriors director of rugby Dean Ryan said Symons was unlikely to be back in action for another three months, but he revealed the inside centre has sought extra support from specialists in America.
“He will not be around until Christmas and at the moment he is in Denver working at a cutting-edge rehab centre to try and accelerate that time-line,” Ryan said.
“But let’s not forget that it was a serious cruciate ligament injury. We would hope to see him back in November or December, but it depends on how his recovery goes.”
His partner at centre, Max Stelling, also missed the play-off final after pulling his hamstring and Ryan said he was pleased to see the 21-year-old test himself against a star-studded Barbarians last Saturday.
“We know the ability of Max, but he just needs to hold his own in bigger games and against better players and Saturday was an opportunity for him,” Ryan said.
“His ability on the ball is probably second to none, but he has got to learn more about the game to make sure he is standing in the right place at the right time.”
Prop Joe Rees was replaced after taking a knock to the head, while Andy Short was carried off after just six minutes of Warriors’ 43-35 defeat to the Baa-Baas and was seen leaving Sixways on crutches.
But Ryan added: “Joe just had a bang on the head. It does not matter if it is pre-season or not he will go through the normal return to play (protocol).
“We will look at Shorty and see what the damage is. He went over on an ankle, but we will not know the extent until it settles down.”