Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is set for a long stint on the sidelines after tearing his hamstring in the NSW Waratahs warmup on Friday night.
Suaalii suffered the injury during a regulation drill before kickoff against the Hurricanes at Allianz Stadium and was replaced at outside centre by George Poolman.
It has since been confirmed the $1.6 million superstar will miss at least the next six weeks of action and could potentially spend two months out.
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Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii of the Waratahs gestures to the fans. Getty
The Waratahs were thrashed 59-19 without him and coach Dan McKellar later confirmed the outlook wasn’t great.
“Caps off a disappointing night,” McKellar said.
“It looked pretty sore. I’d suggest it’s not a couple of weeks. I think it’s a bit longer.”
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It was NSW’s first loss of the season as the Hurricanes ran in nine tries to three.
“It’s just incredibly disappointing and a nice little reality check,” McKellar said.
“We’re not going to sit in there and get the hairdryer out in terms of giving them a spray or anything like that.
“We certainly didn’t get ahead of ourselves off the back of the first two wins. We weren’t patting ourselves on the back or falling in love with ourselves. They had a night where things fell into their hands, and they beat us across the park.”
Waratahs captain Matt Philip gathered his team after the fulltime whistle to lay down the law.
“Super Rugby’s a hard competition. And, unfortunately, you might have nights where you get punched in the face,” Philip said.
The Waratahs react after the round four Super Rugby match at Allianz Stadium. Getty
The 40-point win was the Hurricanes’ biggest ever in Sydney.
Suaalii had been kept quiet in NSW’s first two games but, speaking before the match, was happy enough with where his game was at.
“I feel like the game of rugby is won by a lot of the things that the fans don’t see,” Suaalii said.
“It’s the breakdown, it’s the double efforts, it’s a lot of things that the fans don’t see.
“So I’m trying to base my game around there and still try to get my hand on ball but, at the same time, I’m just doing what the team needs me to do.”
The Waratahs now travel to Brisbane to take on the Queensland Reds on Saturday.