Gavin Henson is due to have his walking plaster removed on 10 July
Ospreys centre Gavin Henson will miss the start of the new season.
The Wales star underwent ankle surgery at the end of April after injuring it his region's Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Saracens in the same month.
The 26-year-old had hoped to be fit in time for the new term but the Ospreys confirmed he is unlikely to be fit for duty until the end of September
They also confirmed their two other long-term injury victims Mike Phillips and Ben Lewis will return on time.
Physio Chris Towers said Henson is still in a walking plaster, which is due to come off on 10 July, and is recovering well from his injury.
"Once the plaster has been removed then we'll be looking at working closely with him to get it functioning properly," said Towers.
"The indications are that the ankle is coming along well and we are looking towards Gavin returning to action towards the latter end of September."
Henson's injury has already taken longer to heal than at first expected and Wales rugby legend said that no matter how the rest of his recuperation goes Henson must not be rushed back.
"However long it takes, he's got to be right when he comes back and not be rushed but he needs games," said Davies.
"For me it's all about him getting on the park and playing. When he does play regularly he's a very, very good player and a great asset to both Wales and the Ospreys.
"Unfortunately, the injury is worse than people first thought and sadly now he's going to miss pre-season and miss the start of the season.
"It will have a knock-on effect on him unfortunately because he's still a player who needs to play to perform very, very well.
"You need a very good pre-season. That is the window that the IRB and every union has to look at to make sure that every player has a rest period and then a good pre-season before every season.
"There will be a knock-on effect for him because he'll be slightly behind the rest of the world rugby.
"He'd want to come back for the Autumn matches and of course there's the Lions then at the end of the Six Nations. It's a big year."
Towers added that Phillips was currently three months into recovering from the anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction of his right knee and was already starting to develop his strength and power.
The 25-year-old scrum-half his cruciate ligament in the Ospreys' EDF Energy Cup win over Saracens in March and is on target to return at the of September or early October.
Highly-rated open-side flanker Lewis suffered a similar injury in May and is six weeks into his own rehabilitation programme with the region expecting him to be fit again by November.
In addition, Lee Byrne, Nikki Walker and Andrew Millward have all undergone minor operations with all three due to take a full part in pre-season training which begins on Monday.
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