St Helens winger Regan Grace will be out of action for at least another three weeks because of a hamstring injury.
The Welsh international missed the first six games of the campaign with a bicep injury sustained in pre-season but returned to action for Saints’ Challenge Cup sixth-round tie at Whitehaven.
However, Grace picked up a fresh problem in that game which saw him taken off and then subsequently miss last week’s victory at Leeds Rhinos in Super League.
He is now set to miss not only the Challenge Cup quarter-final at Catalans Dragons this Saturday, but also Saints’ Easter programme of fixtures including the Good Friday derby with Wigan Warriors.
“Regan is going to be another three or four weeks – it is likely to be four weeks, but we hope it could possibly be shorter,” said St Helens head coach Kristian Woolf.
“It was just bad luck with the way he actually landed in the tackle at Whitehaven.”
Saints will also be without Jake Wingfield in France this weekend due to the concussion protocols, after he failed a head assessment during the game at Leeds.
However, the club have confirmed that props Alex Walmsley and Matty Lees, plus centre Will Hopoate, will all be named in their 21-man squad to face the Dragons following injury absences.
“Al will be back. He is 100 per cent right,” said Woolf. “He was very close last week, but there are just a few boxes to be ticked before you can be 100 per cent confident that a player can come back and play from a hamstring injury.
“Matty Lees will be right. He had an ankle injury from Warrington – and probably in hindsight did not get the decision right playing him in Toulouse.
“He aggravated it and meant that he had to have a little bit longer after that. He is 100 per cent right now and will certainly be in the team.
“Will Hopoate is similar to Al, and he had not quite ticked every box to give a reassurance that he was ready to come back from a hamstring, so we held him back for a week. But he is 100 per cent right for this week.”