Cornish Pirates captain John Stevens will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Scans show the forward needs an operation to repair damage to both his anterior and cruciate knee ligaments.
The 29-year-old was hurt in the first half of the Championship club’s opening game of the season away at Nottingham.
“He will undergo surgery to repair the medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments in due course, before starting his rehab with the club which is unfortunately likely to rule him out of the rest of the 24/25 campaign,” Pirates said in a statement.
The club brought in Ealing forward Tomiwa Agbongbon on loan on Tuesday to help cover for Stevens’ injury.