Lee Best will will miss the first half of Worcester's Premiership season after discovering his hip problem requires surgery.
The Warriors full back, who was forced out of club's final warm up match against London Irish at the weekend, has seen a speciliast after failing to recover from a muscle tear and will have an operation next week.
That will put him out until after Christmas and mean he has played just 13 league games for the Sixways outfit since he left Bath in the summer of 2006. Indeed, in 2007 he has made just three Premiership starts.
On a positive note, Shane Drahm and James Brown are expected to be fit in time for the season opener against Bath on Saturday week and Tim Collier is ahead of schedule and will soon return to full training.
For Best, though, it is yet another set back. The 28-year-old, whose contract runs out at the end of the season, has been blighted by injury since his days at The Rec and his luck has not changed since moving on. He lost much of last season to knee and hamstring problems and will not now play again this year after picking up the tear after Worcester's pre-season training camp in Exeter.
