The 24-year-old damaged his medial cruciate ligament during the first-half of last weekend’s Guinness Pro12 victory over Edinburgh and scans have revealed the full extent of the problem.
It means Shingler will miss the majority of the Scarlets’ regular-season run-in as they battle to secure a play-off berth having been among the top four for the entirety of the season to date.
“We had thought it was worse than it is, but it could be anywhere in the range of eight weeks,” said Scarlets head coach Wayne Pivac.
“It is unfortunate. We felt Steve had earned the right to get a start and he had started the game well against Edinburgh before he picked up the injury.”
There was better news for the west Wales region over flanker James Davies. The openside was one of the form players in the Po12 during the opening stages of the season before suffering a foot injury against Zebre, but is closing in on a return.
“James is running well, he has had another scan, which has been really positive and he is not far away,” said Pivac.as he prepares his side for Sunday’s trip to face Ulster.
“He is not ready for this weekend against Ulster but I would imagine he will be very close for next weekend (against Edinburgh).”
Wales scrum-half Aled Davies is set to be included in the matchday 23 after being released back to the region from RBS 6 Nations duty.
