GLASGOW Warriors are likely to be without Kyle Steyn for the remainder of this season after the 28-year-old winger suffered ligament damage in his lower leg during Saturday’s defeat to the Stormers in Cape Town. Meanwhile, centre Sam Johnson is touch and go for this coming Friday’s crunch United Rugby Championship clash against the Bulls in Pretoria. 

“Kyle has an achilles injury but it’s not quite as black and white as that,” explained Warriors head coach Danny Wilson. “It’s the ligaments in that area and we are trying to nail down what it means.  

“He’s had a scan and he’s got an appointment to see a specialist. It’s definitely a medium-termer. Whether we see Kyle again this season, we’ll have to wait and see, but at the moment it’s doubtful. 

“It’s unlucky because he has been in really good form and was really looking forward to playing back in South Africa but only lasted around 10 minutes [against the Stormers]. We’re disappointed for him and obviously for us because he’s been quality and was man of the match against Newcastle recently. 

“Sammy Johnson picked up an ankle niggle and we’re still trying to see what that means for him for this weekend,” Wilson added. “When you add to that Matt Fagerson, Scott Cummings, Rufus McLean, George Horne – these are big international players who you really want to have going into the business end of the season.” 

Ratu Tagive has flown out to South Africa to add depth to Warriors out wide. He was initially left at home to get game time with Stirling County in Super6 having not played since fracturing his cheekbone during pre-season but could now feature from the bench for Warriors against the Bulls. 

“He’s been able to play a few games now, and when you think we have lost Rufus, Seb [Cancelliere] and Kyle in a very short space of time, we needed to bring Ratu out here and get him up to speed as quickly as possible, because he's a goof player and if he doesn’t play here then we are jumping on a flight almost as soon as we get back to go and play Lyon in Europe,” explained Wilson. 

Last Friday’s loss saw Wilson’s side drop to sixth in the table, with two games of the regular season left to play. They are only one point off the top four, which is where they need to finish to secure a home draw in the play-offs, but the threat of dropping out of the top eight and therefore missing out altogether on the play-offs also now hangs over them. 

Their remaining matches are both away from home, against eighth-placed Bulls this Friday and currently seventh-placed Edinburgh on 21st May. Meanwhile, ninth placed Scarlets are just seven points behind Glasgow with two winnable games left to play in the regular season. 

So, while the Bulls match is not quite must-win, if Warriors don’t get anything from the game then the pressure will really start to build. 

“We knew coming to South Africa for these two weeks that we’d have to get points,” said Wilson, speaking from the team’s base at Stellenbosch University. “It’s a very, very tough place – not many teams will come here and take points, especially against the Bulls and the Stormers. 

“In the past we came here and played the Southern Kings and the Cheetahs and no disrespect to them because they were good sides, but maybe not with the firepower that these guys have got.  

“It’s great for the competition and it’s great to raise our standards. Hopefully, we can make some improvements going into game two.” 

“We’ve been in the top four for the majority of the season and now we’ve come to this really tight business end where we can quite easily jump or fall three or four places,” he added. 

“The league can change very quickly over a few games, and for us, with a series of away games, it’s a big challenge. 

“I genuinely believe we can beat the Bulls, if we can show some of the form we have shown recently, but maybe not what we showed at the weekend past.”