And the Kiwi was given nothing to smile about in Saturday's Scarlets and Treviso clash. The game ended with a 35-27 victory to the welsh region but at some cost.

Fly-half Jones left the field after 18 minutes with a knee ligament problem while newly-appointed national skipper Rees was withdrawn with abductor muscle trouble.

And Scarlets coach Nigel Davies was unable to offer any words of solace to Gatland with their opening RBS 6 Nations clash with England less than two months away.

“It will take 24 to 48 hours to have an accurate assessment," he said.

“Stephen’s injury is probably a tweak to the ligaments but we don't really know.

“In the next couple of days we'll have a clear assessment. He's walking around, so that's a good sign.

“We will have it scanned after the swelling has gone down.”