Keelan Giles faces reconstructive knee surgery after the injury that saw him stretchered off in the Ospreys’ Guinness PRO14 encounter with the Dragons.

The talented wing left the field on the hour following a nasty collision with his opposite number Ashton Hewitt during last Friday’s game in Swansea.

The cruciate ligament injury looked a bad one at the time and so it has proved, with Giles likely to be sidelined for the rest of the season.

Ospreys’ medical performance manager Chris Towers said: “Keelan has sustained a significant knee ligament injury and will require reconstructive surgery.

“We are currently in the process of seeking expert opinion to formulate the best course of management going forward and will provide appropriate updates when necessary.”

It is a cruel blow for Giles, who was the talk of Welsh rugby last season on the strength of 14 tries, some of them spectacular, in 19 games.

He had been left out of the Wales squad for this term’s autumn internationals but the Ospreys had been pleased with his progress and felt he was pushing on with his game.

But now he faces a long-haul back to fitness.

Asked about the bumps the region picked up in their match with the Dragons, defence coach Brad Davis said: “Keelan’s the big one, with a pretty nasty knee injury.

“It’s going to take some time out of the game for him to get better.

“It’s really disappointing for the kid and we hope his rehabilitation goes well for him.

“He had a breakthrough season last term and I have 100 percent seen signs of Keelan progressing with his game.

“This season he has had a couple of setbacks, this one serious.

“But he’s shown enough in his time with the club to show he’s going to be a professional for a long time.

“Not only does he have an ability to learn the game, he’s also developing and over time he’s going to become a much more mature player.

“This is just a little bump in the road for him.

“All players go through these setbacks. It will be a learning curve for him.”

Giles was injured in an incident that saw Hewitt trek across field and put in a football-style tackle.

But the Dragons youngster subsequently offered commiserations to the Osprey as he was taken away on a stretcher and was applauded around the ground for doing so.

Davis stressed that while he felt Hewitt had been a “little bit reckless” in the challenge, there had been no intent.

“It was just unfortunate for Keelan that he got his leg caught and suffered an injury,” he said.

“My thoughts are that there was no intent in the challenge.

“He was probably a little bit reckless.

“But I can see from Hewitt’s perspective the ball was a 50-50 and from my perspective he was trying to kick it out into touch.

“I don’t think there was any intent.”