Arno Botha will miss the opening month of the Currie Cup due to a knee strain.

The loose forward suffered a medial meniscal tear on Friday during the Vodacom Blue Bulls' match against the Canon Eagles in Japan and has been ruled out for between four and five weeks.

Two more players involved in that match, Lappies Labuschagne (lower back) and Roelof Smit (influenza), will train on Tuesday only, but will be available for selection for the team to play the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday in the opening round of the Currie Cup.

Jürgen Visser (hamstring) has also been cleared to join training on Tuesday, but Justin Forwood (rib, two weeks) and Neethling Fouche (ankle, two weeks) will only be back on the field later this month.

Pierre Schoeman (knee) and Ruan Steenkamp (knee) will be back on 15 August and Duncan Matthews and Ryan Nell should be able to play again at the end of August, following knee surgery.

Irne Herbst and Piet van Zyl (knees) are out for the season, as is Dennis Visser (ankle) and Morné Mellett, who underwent successful surgery on a vertebral artery dissection. He will be out for at least six months.

Photo: Lee Warren/Gallo Images