Director of rugby Jake White has confirmed the Vodacom Bulls will be without utility forward Jacques du Plessis for an extended period due to injury.

Du Plessis rejoined the Bulls last year after spending six seasons in France, but his return to Loftus Versfeld has been marred by injury.

According to White, Du Plessis has a recurring heel injury that has him playing a couple of weeks and then rules him out for a few weeks.

It has now been decided that the player will undergo corrective surgery on his heel, which will keep him sidelined for an undetermined period.

“We are at a point, where if you look where we as a team want to be in the next few years, we have to start getting the best out of him,” White told Sport24.

In another injury blow, Bulls new recruit Cyle Brink is struggling with  a thigh-muscle injury and no specific time has been set for his return to action.