Brumbies prop Blake Schoupp faces a lengthy period on the sidelines after coach Stephen Larkham said the Australia international had suffered a ruptured Achilles in Saturday's Super Rugby Pacific win over the Reds.
Schoupp, who has played five times for the Wallabies, was forced off the field with 18 minutes remaining of the Brumbies' 39-26 victory at Lang Park in Brisbane, having sustained the injury in a scrum.
"My understanding at this stage is that he's snapped his Achilles," Larkham said at the post-match press conference. "He'll need an operation and then the rehab from there will be up around nine months.
"We'll get on top of that straight away. There's a really good surgeon in Brisbane so hopefully that's the process going forward now, he gets an operation in the next couple of days and then gets into rehab."
The injury will rule Schoupp out of the rest of the Super Rugby campaign and also ends his hopes of claiming a place in the Wallabies squad to face the British and Irish Lions later in the year.
Teammate Len Ikitau, meanwhile, will miss the Brumbies' meeting on Saturday with Moana Pasifika after leaving the field with a head injury against the Reds.
"Lenny's got a concussion, he was knocked out so it'll be at least 12 days now (until he can) return to play, which means he misses the game next week against Moana," said Larkham.
Saturday's win over the Reds moved the Brumbies up to third in the Super Rugby standings, five points adrift of the table-topping Crusaders as the regular season moves into the second half of the schedule.
"In this competition, you've got to make sure you're playing well both at home and when you're on the road," said Larkham.
"There was nothing really spectacular about the performance bar the fact that there was maximum effort on the field from our boys, which is great."
