James Feather, the Keighley Cougars hooker and captain, needs an operation on the depressed fractured cheekbone that he sustained after a clash of heads in last Sunday’s 20-16 Co-operative Championship One win over Hunslet Hawks.

This will rule him out of Friday evening’s crucial final league game of the season at London Skolars, the play-off series and the Grand Final, if Keighley were to progress that far.

It had been hoped that Feather would not need surgery but that has proved not to be the case.

James, better known to Cougar fans as Buster, was given the verdict by the doctors this morning (Wednesday) and he has been ruled out of action for three months.

Barry Eaton, the Keighley Cougars Head Coach, said: “It’s a blow for both Buster and the club but the most important thing is that he gets the best possible treatment and recovers as quickly as possible.

“Buster will go into hospital some time in the next week or so and will have a plate inserted onto his cheekbone.

“While it’s not an emergency situation for Buster, it needs to be done in the next two weeks so that he can pick up the threads of his rugby career when we go into pre-season training.

“In the meantime Buster will stay in with the squad and he’ll come to London Skolars with us on Friday.

“And his absence from the team should prove to be an extra incentive for the other players in the side to do well. We want to make it happen for Buster”.