Gloucester head coach Johan Ackermann has confirmed that lock Tom Savage has been ruled out for up to 10 weeks with a knee injury.
Savage sustained the injury in a pre-season friendly against Ulster just over a fortnight ago. Although Savage will miss part of the season, Ackermann is relieved that the injury is not as bad as initially feared.
“It’s about eight to 10 weeks,” Ackermann told Gloucester Live.
“I know it’s not ideal but we’ll take it any day because in the beginning there was fear it could be six to nine months.
“Luckily it’s not so knowing Sav he’ll be back sooner and he’ll be ready to go not long from now.”
Meanwhile, Ackermann will also be without the services of new signings Ruan Dreyer and Jaco Kriel, as well as back three player Tom Marshall, for Saturday’s opening fixture of their Premiership campaign against Northampton Saints at Kingsholm.
Dreyer is a couple of weeks away, having picked up a knock in pre-season, while Kriel is expected to return in four to six weeks. In reference to Marshall’s injury, Ackermann explained it was an “ongoing” issue and therefore difficult to pin a return date down.
“Tom is an ongoing one,” said Ackermann.
“It’s an injury that was only detected a bit later, it’s still an injury coming from last season.
“That is dependable to how he reacts to ongoing rehab. It’s difficult to put a real marker on that.
“Dreyer has got a little niggle that we’ll manage now but hopefully we’ll see him in the next couple of weeks.
“Jaco is probably another good four to six weeks away more or less. It can be sooner, it can be a bit longer.
“It’s quite important we get this one right as he had a second operation already on that shoulder so we’re going to make sure it’s a week too long rather than a week too short.”