The two-time World Cup winner Frans Steyn underwent knee surgery last week and according to Cheetahs coach Hawies Fourie, the 35-year-old Steyn faces up to three months on the sidelines, leaving little time to prove his match fitness when he returns.

“He’ll be out for about two to three months,” Fourie is quoted by Sport24.

“Frans had a scope on his knee and the prognosis was worse than the doctor initially thought. It will be a substantial period on the sidelines. Our medical team believes it will be for most of the Currie Cup anyway.”

“It’s a bit of a blow to his hopes, he really wanted to go for the World Cup,” said Fourie.

“He’s worked really hard since the start of the year after his previous injury, [and] dropped quite a bit of weight. It’s a big setback for him, hopefully he’ll recover soon and maybe there’s still a bit of a door open for him, but we don’t have contact with the Bok coaches currently.

“We’ll see how it goes, but he needs to recover and get on the field again first.”

“We obviously try to have a few fixtures in the pipeline like the Toyota Challenge and there’s a plan to play against the Force home and away, but it’s not finalised yet,” he added.

“It’s my hope we can nail those fixtures down to allow him to play in them. But, at the earliest, those games would take place in August.”