Thursday 2 February 2017 14:14, UK
England scrum-half Matty Smith broke his leg in St Helens' pre-season friendly against Widnes, coach Keiron Cunningham has confirmed.
Smith, who rejoined his home-town club from Wigan after the 2016 Grand Final in October, suffered the break on his first appearance back in Saints colours 11 days ago but the extent of the injury was only revealed on Thursday.
"Matty has broke his leg and surgically had it repaired," Cunningham said at the launch of the 2017 Betfred Super League season at Leigh Sports Village.
"It could be better but out of a bad job it's probably the best outcome for us. It's a clean break. We'll give him four weeks and then get him re-x-rayed and re-assessed and we'll hopefully get a time frame of where we're at then.
"It's hard to put a time on it because you don't know how he's going to respond to things. When you surgically fix things, you've got plates and nuts and bolts and all the things that can have an influence on how he recovers.
Widnes forward Manase Manuokafoa has been given a two-match ban for the tackle.
St Helens captain Jon Wilkin has been used as a makeshift scrum-half in the past but Cunningham played youngster Danny Richardson and new signing Tommy Lee alongside Theo Fages in the halves in Saints' friendly against Castleford last Sunday and is likely to stick with that option for the opening league game against Leeds next Thursday.
"Jon is my plan Z," Cunningham added. "I've trained with Jon in a position all pre-season and I don't want to disrupt the flow of the side. We've still got a few sessions but we've got a good idea.
"It's disappointing but generally out of disappointment comes opportunity and we'll have a look at a different combination. At Saints we're used to adversity because we get plenty of it every year and we know how to adapt."
