Cardiff lodge complaint over Bertranou injury

Gonzalo Bertranou may have played his last game for Cardiff

Cardiff have lodged an official complaint over alleged foul play by Lions that has left Gonzalo Bertranou facing surgery.

The scrum-half was forced off in the 19th minute of last week's 34-13 defeat in Johannesburg with a serious head injury.

Cardiff have confirmed the Argentinian suffered a concussion and a fractured cheekbone and was undergoing surgery in Cardiff on Wednesday.

Head coach Matt Sherratt said the club complained the injury had been caused by a deliberate strike to the face by the unnamed Lions' tackler.

However he said Cardiff were informed by United Rugby Championship (URC) there had not been a "clear and obvious" error by the match officials.

"I don't usually say this but I wasn't very happy with the action that led to the injury," said Sherratt.

"It looked like a swinging arm [and] we've gone through the right channels with it.

"It was never going to be clear and obvious but I was gutted for him because it was a nasty injury."

Bertranou has been ruled out of this weekend's match against Sharks with fly-half Tinus de Beer providing scrum-half cover to Ellis Bevan.

He could yet recover in time for the last game of the season against Ospreys on 1 June, though whether or not he plays again for Cardiff remains to be seen.

The 30-year-old moved from Dragons to the Arms Park in April on a short-term contract to the end of the season and has yet to agree a new deal beyond this summer.

"He's made a great impression at Cardiff and is one of the top professionals I have worked with, he maximises every ounce of talent" said Sherratt.

"We still haven't got absolute clarity on our budget so we are holding off but we're not late to the party.

"It seems all the recruitment is being done later across all clubs due to the World Cup and the way the game is going."