MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Jordan Petaia’s Super Rugby Pacific season is likely over after the Australia winger suffered a shoulder injury at the weekend, Queensland Reds coach Les Kiss said on Tuesday.
Petaia came off in the first half of the Reds’ 31-0 win over the Otago Highlanders after being hurt in a tackle and played no further part in the match.
“(Jordan)’s obviously disappointed but he’s gone and spoken with the specialists talking through the next layer and getting that done. Once he’s got a pathway he can move forward and go from there,” Kiss told reporters.
“It’s a blow without a doubt, a player of his calibre, the types of game he brings for us, his physical size, his power.”
Petaia is expected to undergo surgery, and a long recovery could imperil his hopes of selection in Joe Schmidt’s first Wallabies squad ahead of July tests against Wales and Georgia.
The 24-year-old joins Reds team mates Tate McDermott and Fraser McReight on the sidelines, the Wallabies pair serving suspensions for red cards.
Lock Seru Uru was ruled out last week for up to six weeks with a thumb injury.
The run of injuries come at a pivotal stage for the sixth-placed Reds (4-4), who face New Zealand’s rampaging Auckland Blues at home on Saturday before a road trip to the Canterbury Crusaders the following week.
The second-placed Blues (7-1) hammered Australia’s ACT Brumbies 46-7 at Eden Park over the weekend and have been unstoppable since their third round defeat away to the leading Wellington Hurricanes.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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