STEVE Hamer may have played his last game for Abergavenny RFC having left the field just minutes into a weekend friendly against Newbridge with a suspected dislocated shoulder.

Hamer, 33, is a natural winger who has helped out at centre in recent weeks. The former Abergavenny RFC manager returned to playing duties two years ago after recovering from a four-year lay off with a knee ligament problem.

But now coach Gary Lawrence believes Hamer's latest injury set-back will see him out for the season - and possibly end his career.

He said: "Steve has plugged our back line recently because we are not all that blessed with backs. But on Saturday he broke through a tackle and hit the ground hard on the top of his arm when it was outstretched.

"He has been playing really well in the last couple of weeks since he recovered from the knee injury, but I fear this could finish his career."

Abergavenny, with a Six Nations week off from Division Three East duties, had two friendlies last week; comfortably seeing off a Gwent Police XV in midweek but losing 38-0 at Newbridge on Saturday.

Lawrence explained: "The whole idea of having both games was to blood one or two youngsters and fringe players in a strong side. But a lot of the regulars were unavailable for one reason or another, especially on Saturday, and even against Gwent Police we didn't have our best 15 out. "A lot of people pulled out late on so we only had 16 players to choose from, which was disappointing, and so it didn't work out as planned. I had hoped to look at Nick Gethin now he is back from South Africa, but he picked up an injury a few days before."

He added: "We played a good bit of rugby against Gwent Police but they were weak and it was just an opportunity for the boys to play without any pressure on them.

"I was impressed with Ollie Evans at centre though."

Lawrence's men return to league action on Saturday when they host Cwmbran RFC, kick off at 2.30pm at Bailey Park.

He concluded: "We'll miss Steve Hamer in the back because we don't have much cover but we have some versatile players who can do a job for us there. The games didn't work out as planned but our forwards will keep rumbling on and apart from the injury, our league form shouldn't be too badly affected."