THE BULLS’ STAR wing Kurt-Lee Arendse has been ruled out of next weekend’s URC semi-final with Leinster with a fractured cheekbone and is a doubt for South Africa’s summer tests against Ireland.

Arendse, who scored the Pretorians’ first two tries in Saturday’s quarter-final victory over Benetton at Loftus Versfeld, was withdrawn on the half-hour mark after he clashed heads with Malakai Fekitoa during a tackle.

Bulls head coach Jake White has confirmed that Arendse, 27, sustained a facial fracture which will rule him out of the remainder of the Bulls’ URC campaign and will leave him in a race against time to add to his 15 Springbok caps against Ireland later this summer.

Arendse will undergo surgery on Sunday in an attempt to feature for the world champions against the back-to-back Six Nations winners in July.

“It’s such a fracture that when I say it’s not too bad, it’s a fracture they can put a plate in to try and get him ready as quickly as they can for the tests,” said Bulls head coach White.

“Every kid wants to be in the Tests, and credit to our medical staff for finding the doctor who will do the surgery tomorrow morning so quickly.

“It’s a little like the Dupont injury. Dupont got the operation the next day [but featured against the Springboks in the World Cup quarter-final a few weeks later].”

The Bulls have already lost flying outside back Canan Moodie to finger surgery, although fellow World Cup winner Marco van Staden could return from recent knee trouble against Leinster.

The potential absence of Arendse for the summer tests, however, will be of concern to ‘Boks boss Rassie Erasmus, who has already lost both Moodie and Damian Willemse from his back-three depth chart.