King picked up the injury in a game against Leinster in February

The Scarlets say there is still no time-scale on the return from injury of star centre Regan King.

The New Zealander, 29, tore his hamstring from the bone in a 31-17 defeat by Leinster in February.

"He's running about half pace at the moment, it's a process of building the muscle up," said coach Nigel Davies.

But the Llanelli-based region say there has been no talk of invoking a clause that could see a contract cancelled if a player is injured for over 26 weeks.

That happened when Simon Maling, Gavin Thomas and Dafydd James were controversially released from Parc y Scarlets towards the end of last season.

606: DEBATE Give your thoughts on Regan King

"It's nothing that we've spoken about at this point," Davies told BBC Radio Wales' Scrum V programme.

"We're just keen to get Regan back and we're sure that we will.

"Players can have career-threatening injuries and when that happens they go out of game... We don't think that's the case with Regan."

It was initially thought that King would be fit before the end of last season and then his return date was set at December, but now the Scarlets say they cannot commit to any date.

The once-capped All Black has been the shining light of the Scarlets' back line for several years.

But the young squad at the region has exceeded expectations this season, with highly rated youngster Jonathan Davies and summer-signing Sean Lamont forming an effective centre combination.

"Regan's proved to be a world-class player and a big attribute to the Scarlets," chief executive Paul Sergeant told Scrum V Radio.

"It's very unfortunate for him to be in such a difficult position [with injury].

"With any employment there's a given point where when you're unfit you have to say that you can't take things any further.

"We are focusing on getting Regan fit and healthy and in a position to play rugby again.

"It would be unfair to put him under any more pressure... I can't say one way or another if he will see [his contract] out."

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