Edinburgh's Boffelli facing more months on sidelines

Emiliano Boffelli suffered a recurrence of his back injury during pre-season

Argentina full-back Emiliano Boffelli could be out injured for months rather than weeks following a recurrence of a back issue, Edinburgh coach Sean Everitt fears.

Boffelli played 14 games last season - seven for his country and seven for Edinburgh - but has not appeared since late April.

He was named in Everitt's squad for the opening round of the United Rugby Championship against Leinster last month but withdrew late in the week.

Speaking on the latest edition of the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast, Everitt expressed concern for a player, who at his best, is a world-class operator.

"Boff has got a similar injury to what he had last year," the Edinburgh coach said when asked how long the full-back will need to recover. "He's going to see a surgeon this week for an opinion on what the next steps would be.

"I suppose we will know later in the week the severity of that injury. It's not in the same place. It's in a different area. So, if he has to go through the same procedure, he's still looking at from about four to six months."

Everitt said it was "a setback" for someone desperate "to give everything to the club" and who is "extremely grateful for the opportunity that he has at Edinburgh and feels that he owes the club".

"And then he goes through surgery in the off-season, comes back strong, and then he has a reoccurrence," he said.

"It's not great for the individual. The team misses a player of that calibre."

The fixture schedule has not been kind to Edinburgh, with games against Leinster, who have won the competition eight times in its different guises, and then a double-header in South Africa, including a contest against twice-finalists the Bulls.

After two opening defeats, they next visit the Lions on Saturday at Ellis Park before hosting 2022 winners and 2023 finalists the Stormers.

Everitt is frustrated at some of the costly errors his team has made in their opening games and had a warning for those players who fail to heed the messages they are being given.

"Players that aren't performing week-in, week-out cannot continue to wear the Edinburgh jersey," he added. "And, if we have serial offenders, we will make those changes to make the squad better.

"The frustration is when you have to go back to the drawing board on certain things that you have addressed. But we're going to keep working."