Emery ruled out for the season

Cape Town - The Highlanders have been dealt with the news that centre Jason Emery was ruled out of the rest of the season with an Achilles injury.

Emery ruptured his Achilles playing for the Highlanders Bravehearts against the Crusader Knights in the curtain raiser to Saturday's Super Rugby clash between the sides' senior teams in Dunedin.

The 23-year-old will miss the entire year's action as he rehabs the injury post-surgery. Emery will join Highlanders flyhalf Hayden Parker on the sidelines for 2017 and continues a bad run of injuries for the Dunedin-based club.

“I really feel for Jason, he has looked very sharp through preseason and was looking to make it a big year. I know he is a positive guy and he will work hard to come back from this and get back to fitness for 2018,” said Highlanders head coach Tony Brown.

Currently without senior players Ben Smith, Ash Dixon, Dan Pryor, Shane Christie, Luke Whitelock and Marty Banks head Brown was remaining positive.

"Unfortunately injuries are part of the game and while we are having our depth tested currently, we have faith in the resilience and talent within our squad," he added.

"On the up side hopefully our few of our senior players will be back soon."

The Highlanders will play the Blues at Eden Park in Auckland on Saturday.