Gerard Beale suffered a catastrophic broken leg in the opening stanza of his New Zealand World Cup campaign, with the extent of his injury, unconfirmed.
Many concluded that he'll miss the rest of the World Cup, and possibly the first few months of pre-season training, with his new club, the New Zealand Warriors.
However, new scans have revealed that the outside-back has been dealt a cruel blow which will see the 27-year old not return to the paddock until Round 9 of the regular season.
Unfortunately, Beale will have to wait six months to complete the agonising recovery process.
A frustrated David Kidwell has been left with Dean Whare and Pete Hiku to fill in Beale's shoes, for the remainder of the tournament.
"It's a broken legโฆ he [made] a try-saving tackle and he was limping, we checked him out and they said it was a hematoma on his lower leg, then obviously after the scrum [a couple of minutes later] he tried to take off and broke his leg," Kidwell said.
An unfortunate Beale enjoyed premiership success with Cronulla, before inking a deal to link with Stephen Kearney's Warriors, and to head back home to be closer to his family.
The broken leg is a slap in the face to Stephen Kearney, who will be forced to rule Beale out of his strategic plan for the first few months of the season.
