Both players will undergo surgery to fix the problems and according to Blues boss Dai Young are facing four months on the sidelines. Wales play New Zealand, Samoa, Argentina and Australia at the Millennium Stadium in November and will be severely tested by injuries to two of their most senior players.

Wales boss Warren Gatland is already without prop Adam Jones, who also dislocated his shoulder in Lions colours, and there remain doubts over the availability of centre Tom Shanklin who missed the Lions tour due to a shoulder injury.

"Martyn is having a shoulder operation next week and is out until November," Young told Wales on Sunday. "He won't play in the autumn internationals. Gethin is having a shoulder operation as well, so he's out until around November too.

"As we know, he picked up the damage to his cheekbone in the second Test, but prior to that he actually dislocated his shoulder in a tackle and carried on. Obviously, as soon as they come back we scan these players and unfortunately both of them need shoulder operations.

"They are two different shoulder injuries, but both need surgery. They are four-month injuries and they are having the ops now, so you are looking at November really."

"The assessment committee advised Peter to refrain from statements involving the Bible and to generally be more careful about what he says," SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins told The Times. "We explained where he could have used a different approach. One example was the statement about the mechanic when he tried to defend Ricky Januarie's selection.

"We made it clear the media wasn't there to fight with him and that they just report what they see and hear. We spent almost a day with Peter and had quite a productive meeting. I think he can put the exercise to good use."

It has also revealed that 45,000 tickets have already been sold for the November 14 Test against the All Blacks at Milan's San Siro stadium.

"We all want to be at the Olympic Games and we would be proud to be a part of the world's greatest sporting event," said Kaplan. "Aside from providing the likes of Japan, Korea and Kazakhstan with medal opportunities, the Olympic Games has the ability to inspire new Rugby audiences, inspiring young men, women and children to get up and take part."