Conrad Smith's horror injury curse in the south of France continues after being ruled out of rugby indefinitely.
The injury set-back comes after he broke a cheekbone in his side's Top 14 match against Victor Vito's La Rochelle.
The match was Smith's first after a four month injury layoff in which the former All Black underwent ankle surgery following an injury suffered on New Year's Eve against Montpellier.
With six days left in the regular season, Smith would have been hoping to assist Pau in reaching the finals, however, with no return date specified, a finals berth looks very unlikely.
His latest injury means Smith will have missed the whole second half of the season.
Signing a one-year contract extension with the club last week, it's not yet known whether there is an injury clause that could see Smith possibly released from the club should the injury see him unavailable heading into next season.
Compounding Pau's turbulent run to the finals is fellow New Zealander Colin Slade's injury predicament which has seen him also ruled out indefinitely after suffering three concussions.
Newshub.
