Scarlets centre Joe Roberts is hoping to make his return to action before Christmas.
Roberts was speaking at a URC content day at the Vale Resort ahead of the opening round of competition this coming weekend.
Chatting to the media, he explained the measures needed to repair a damaged knee which cut his 2023-24 season short.
“I had to get a bone transplant flown in from somewhere, I think it came from America,” said Roberts. “I had a hole in my knee.
“It was in the bottom of my femur where it came into my knee, on the outside. They scraped the mess out of there and plugged the hole with another person’s bone.
“It was wear and tear, a build-up from when I first did my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) a few years ago.
“If you looked at my knee now from a medical point of view, it should look healthy because the bone surface is healed and the plug would have worked.
“I’ve had a few injuries now. Hopefully this is the last one.
“The time frame they gave me was anywhere between six and 12 months, but the surgeon said the operation went well and hopefully I should be back before Christmas.
“I was off my feet on crutches for about a month, so it wasn’t too bad.
“I am doing strength testing and that has come back well. Hopefully I should be running within a few weeks.
“I am a frustrated watcher. That’s the worst part, it’s not actually getting injured, it’s sitting in the stands watching the boys train and play.”
Scarlets have an exciting young batch of centres with Roberts joined by Eddie James, Macs Page, Johnny Williams and Gabe McDonald, who are looking to follow in the footsteps of club greats Jonathan Davies and Scott Williams – two Scarlets icons who said their farewell to Parc y Scarlets at the end of last season.
“I based my game off theirs (Davies and Williams),” added Roberts.
“They were great to me to be fair, both of them. They helped me in all sorts of ways, not just on the field, but through my injuries as well. They were great role models.
“It’s different because we have had that old guard for so long, there is a new crop coming through now.”