Back injury could sideline Byrne for lengthy spell

Wales international Lee Byrne could face a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a back injury.

The Clermont Auvergne full-back was hurt just before half-time of his team’s Heineken Cup victory over Leinster in Dublin on Saturday.

The French club, on their official website, said 32-year-old Byrne had “suffered a fractured right pedicle of the fifth lumbar vertebra”.

Byrne, who has won 46 Test caps and toured South Africa with the 2009 British and Irish Lions, is in his second season of a three-year contract with Clermont.

Byrne was not part of the Wales squad that lost their four autumn internationals against Argentina, Samoa, New Zealand and Australia last month.