The Wallabies will be without powerful centre Samu Kerevi for the rest of the year because of a serious knee injury he suffered at the Commonwealth Games.

Kerevi injured his right knee while playing for the Australian sevens team in Birmingham, during a pool round clash against Kenya.

It was initially downplayed by the sevens team but scans revealed what is believed to be an ACL injury. He will not be available for the Wallabies’ Rugby Championship campaign or the spring tour.

The Wallabies confirmed the news in a social media post.

It is the second consecutive year Kerevi has picked up an injury after being called up from his Japanese club Suntory for Australian duty. He also injured his ankle in 2021, which ruled him out for three games and led to his withdrawal from the spring tour.

Kerevi was among the three Giteau Law picks for the Test series against England in July but, as he did at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the big centre asked to play for the sevens team at the Commonwealth Games.

Kerevi suffered the latest injury in seemingly innocuous circumstances. He carried the ball against Kenya and broke a tackle, but left the field soon after. Australia won 7-5 and later finished fourth after a semi-final defeat to South Africa.

Kerevi was optimistic about the injury soon after, saying: “I’m always confident but I’ll get a doc on it and see. It was just a big bang but then once it settled down it was fine.”