The Tuks camp did not know on Thursday, 14 January how long Perd will be out of action, but he will definitely not go on tour with the Varsity Cup squad leaving for Bloemfontein on Friday, 15 January.

One of the TuksSport medical staff who treated Perd on the field said it “was an ugly injury which caused such severe pain that we had to sedate him with a shot of morphine”.

Perd’s injury is a huge setback, said Tuks head coach, Freddie Grobler.

“Before his freak injury he was playing like a man on a mission. It was without doubt one of his best performances it a very long time, which makes the injury so much more unwanted,” added Freddie.

Perd’s injury will put a lot of pressure on Tiaan Nel, one of several new faces in the Varsity Cup squad. Before joining Tuks late in 2009 Tiaan was one of Centurion’s highest rated players.

To add to Tuks’ woes, tight head prop Varkie (Frederik) Jansen was also injured and he could be sidelined for as long as four weeks.