DODDIE Weir, who was confirmed last night as suffering from a major - and possibly career-threatening - injury after a karate kick to the left knee in the British Lions' match against Mpumalanga on Wednesday, is considering legal action against the player responsible.

The damage to the knee, which occurred when Mpumalanga lock Marius Bosman let fly with his boot as Weir placed his left leg in a ruck to clear the ball, is much worse than originally thought.

The 26-year-old Scotland lock was visibly upset when he returned to the Lions' hotel base in Pretoria late yesterday after an MRI scan at a local hospital had revealed the full extent of the injury.

Weir went immediately to his room, where Lions manager Fran Cotton said he was in a distraught state. However, speaking exclusively to The Herald, the player said: ''They grade these things on a scale of one to three. The injury to the medial ligament is rated three and that to the cruciate ligament two.

''I go back to the UK on Saturday for further examination and the probability of surgery. It all depends on what they find when I get home. I was hoping that the injury was confined to the medial ligament, but the cruciate is involved as well.''

Weir, who is due to be married in mid-July and is now walking with the aid of crutches, is not the first Scottish sportsman of recent times to have his career threatened by such an injury. Footballer Ian Durrant, of Rangers, sustained damage to both the cruciate and medial ligaments in his knee, but his career was saved by surgeons in Los Angeles. Their technique involved the damaged ligaments being replaced with tissue, such as an Achilles tendon, from a dead donor.

In Durrant's case the operation was a success in the sense it allowed him to return to full fitness, although whether he ever regained his effectiveness is another question. The option of such surgery is one which Weir will have time to contemplate. There are other pressing matters to consider.

The possibility of legal action against Bosman had been raised earlier in the day by Cotton, who declared that an act of gratuitous violence had cost a professional player, at the very least, a Lions tour.

Weir said: ''Legal action is one option that remains open to me but, just now, I'm not thinking straight. I will have to discuss it with Fran and take it from there.''

Last night, Cotton said that he would advise the player, in the first instance, to take legal advice. Court proceedings would have to be instituted by the player, but he would receive evidential backing from the Lions.

The Mpumalanga union executive was staging an emergency meeting last night, when video tape of the Bosman incident, and several others involving the same player and fellow lock Evandre van der Bergh, would be viewed.

Cotton said that he expected severe punishment to follow and issued an ultimatum of seven days for the union to act. A ban of 60 days would, he said, have been the minimum punishment had the Lions been able to cite Bosman for the kick on Weir.

Cotton said the match tape showed Bosman and van der Bergh involving in the full repertoire of foul play - stamping, kicking, punching and head-butting.

''You name it, they did it,'' said Cotton. ''I don't think it could have been any worse, and how they managed to remain on the field for the full 80 minutes is unbelievable. The referee failed to fulfil his responsibility to protect the players.''

Weir declared: ''If I had come by the injury in the normal course of a game then you would just have accepted it, but for it to have happened in the manner that it did is almost too much to take.

''You train hard to get to the pinnacle of the game and then this happens. My mum and dad were coming out for the Tests on only their second foreign trip in 26 years of marriage. I feel sorry for them, too.

''Maybe I'll get a second chance on the next Lions tour in four years' time but, right now, all of this hasn't really sunk in yet.''

Bosman and van der Bergh were also responsible for stamping on the head of triple try-scorer Rob Wainwright. Cotton said: ''Yes, there were other incidents and the two players involved should both be dealt with.''

With bonuses, the Lions can expect around #17,000-a-man from the seven-week tour. Cotton declared: ''Doddie's tour fee will now be paid on a pro-rata basis, so the incident has cost him a great deal of money.''

The injury also raises, for the first time in new-age professional rugby, the issue of compensation. Newcastle chairman Sir John Hall was extremely reluctant to allow his five Lions to join the tour because of just such an eventuality as this.

However, Cotton said players had insurance cover and, ifnecessary, clubs would be compensated.

''There are two levels of insurance. One is the insurance cover for the player as an asset. The club, rightly, will expect to be fully compensated if they lose the services of a player, and the other level is on a personal basis for the player.

''However, he will not be covered for the money which he has lost from the tour fee.''

Bath and England lock Nigel Redman is due in Pretoria today from England's Argentinian tour as a replacement for Weir.

q SALFORD'S Ian Blease was yesterday banned for life by the Rugby Football League after he was found guilty of assaulting a touch judge.

The 32-year-old forward was firstly sin-binned and then sent off in last Thursday's 56-14 reserve defeat at Bradford Bulls.