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Cardiff - Wales captain Sam Warburton is set to miss the rest of the European season and the tour of South Africa after suffering a suspected dislocated shoulder injury against Scotland.
Back-row forward Warburton completed Wales' record 51-3 rout of Scotland in their Six Nations finale at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.
However, after the match the Cardiff Blues flanker, who did not attend the subsequent press conference, was seen with his arm in a sling.
"I don't think he's very good," Wales coach Warren Gatland told reporters.
"It looks like he's dislocated his shoulder. It was put back in after the game.
"He'll have a scan tomorrow (Sunday) and the likelihood is he will need an operation on that and be ruled out of the rest of the season and probably the tour as well."
Warburton, the tour captain of the British and Irish Lions squad coached by Gatland that beat Australia 2-1 in a Test series last year, was the second high-profile Welsh casualty in a week.
Leigh Halfpenny, the Lions' man of the series against the Wallabies, dislocated his shoulder while making a try-saving tackle during a 29-18 loss to England at Twickenham last Sunday that ended Wales' hopes of an unprecedented third successive outright Six Nations title.
Halfpenny, ruled out of the Scotland match, underwent surgery on Thursday and is expected to be sidelined for some four months.
That means the full-back will miss the June series against the Springboks, which features Tests in Durban and Nelspruit.
