South Africa second row Andries Bekker will miss the rest of the 2010 season with the back injury he recently sustained.
The Western Province star suffered the knock in the world champions’ 32-17 loss to the All Blacks in Wellington two weeks ago, one of the three successive defeats they have been dealt in a disastrous southern hemisphere campaign so far.
He missed the subsequent loss against Australia and will now play no further part for either the national side or his province before the end of the year.
The lock has now been confirmed as being out for the next four months with an 'acute disc injury' that requires surgery, news that was released on the Western Province Twitter page, before coach Allister Coetzee later face the press.
Speaking at his side’s weekly press conference, Coetzee said the problem was a recurrence of an old injury but added thankfully that: "It is not career threatening."