Bath coach Steven Meehan is sweating over Butch James' shoulder problem that he picked up in South Africa's Tri-Nations clash against Australia on August 28.
The 31-year-old is set to see two specialists to get to the bottom of the problem and Meehan fears he could be without the fly-half for a prolonged spell.
"Now that Butch has returned he will see a specialist in Bath on Thursday and one in London on Monday," he said.
"The guy in London is a surgeon who has dealt with him in the past. That will be the best indicator. Once he gets down there we will have a better idea of where he sits.
"I suppose it's always the initial fear whenever someone goes down on the paddock or at any stage.
"But we have a pretty strong squad in the inside backs and can be pretty confident that we'd be able to handle his absence for whatever period of time."