ULSTER WERE DEALT relatively good news today as the South African medical team returned results of the scans on Ruan Pienaar’s knee injury.
The scrum-half was injured in an accidental collision with teammate Duane Vermuelen during Saturday’s loss to New Zealand in Wellington and fears grew that he may miss ‘months’ with the injury.
Today, however, the Springboks have indicated a rehabilitation of between four and six weeks for Pienaar after scans confirmed a medial collateral ligament injury to his right knee.
The ‘Boks have also lost flanker Francois Louw for the remainder of the Rugby Championship after a Durban specialist diagnosed him with a ‘pinched nerve’ in his neck. The Bath back row will be sidelined for around eight weeks.
Among Ulster’s other injury concerns are Jared Payne, who will be once again unavailable for the trip to Cardiff after suffering a hip injury against Scarlets.
Darren Cave took a rib injury during Friday’s win over Zebre in Belfast and is a slight doubt for the round three fixture on Friday. So too is prop Declan Fitzpatrick who is following return to play concussion protocols after sustaining a concussion on the opening day.
Meanwhile, winger Rory Scholes fractured his foot playing for Belfast Harlequins on Saturday and after Iain Henderson’s hip injury failed to respond to ‘conservative management’ the lock will undergo surgery on the problem next Thursday (September 25).
