“He has fractured his shoulder. He had a scan Sunday and then another on Monday,” Sherratt said.
“I can’t give you a timeline for it but it will rule him out for the rest of the season. Obviously there’s nothing structurally around ligaments but a fracture has been found in his shoulder.
“The good news on it is that it’s not something that at the moment they think needs surgery, so it’s not complicated where it needs to be pinned or anything. It’s something that will heal on its own.
“Unfortunately he’ll miss the rest of the season but hopefully be back at the start of the next.
“For 25 minutes it was almost like he’d never been away – he was Toby Faletau. He just looks like he’s got time, he’s physical, he does everything so well.
“The hardest bit is watching what he’s done to come back and we held him back a little bit as well… give him another couple of weeks so that he’s definitely ready after a substantial time out of the game.
“To see how hard he’s worked off the field and to see the excitement he had coming back. Because he’s experienced I asked him whether he was nervous and he said, ‘Well actually yes, when I saw my name on the team sheet I was nervous’.
“I think that shows what kind of character he is, he’s one of the most humble blokes in the game. Great pro, worked really hard to get back.
“To see him go off was pretty gut-wrenching… what I know about Toby in the short time I’ve known him is he’ll be back. He loves playing rugby so he’ll get stuck into his rehab and get back into it.”