SCARLETS’ Pontypool-born centre Gareth Maule will be out of action for between three and four weeks with a knee injury, writes Iwan Gabe Davies.

The 25-year-old ex-Newport Gwent Dragons player suffered the blow in last Friday’s friendly defeat to Gloucester.

The Llanelli-based region had initially feared Maule, who also played for Ebbw Vale, Cross Keys and Newport, would be sidelined for a longer period.

However a scan has shown he sustained only moderate damage to his medial ligament and it is hoped he will be back in time for the start of the Scarlets’ Heineken Cup campaign in October.

“He had a scan yesterday (Monday), which was positive in the sense it was not as serious as we first thought,” said Scarlets head coach Simon Easterby.

“It probably looks like he will be out for three to four weeks.

“He took a fairly heavy tackle on the side of his knee and someone came in and pushed him over.

“He’s injured his medial ligament to a certain extent, and there’s also three or four other things which got bruised or damaged.

“We were expecting the worst after the weekend but Monday came and he had the scan. We’re reasonably positive that it’s only three or four weeks.”

Maule played 19 times for the Dragons, making his debut in a 24-23 away win against Glasgow Warriors in 2006.

The 6ft 3in and 15st 8lb back’s final performance was as a replacement in a 32-24 win over the Scarlets in 2009.