Bath and England prop David Flatman will be out of action for a further two months and seems destined to miss Bath's remaining Pool matches.
Flatman is to undergo surgery to rectify a heel problem after a nagging Achilles tendon injury was corrected.
The 24-year-old opted to undergo his third operation following conflicting medical advice about the way forward.
"I concluded, based on no medical qualification whatsoever, that it's not going to get better by itself and, if I leave it, I won't play again," he said.
"They will remove some scar tissue which could be concealing a nerve."
Flatman has not played for six months and expects to be sidelined for a further six to eight weeks by this week's procedure.
