Star Bulls centre Shontayne Hape faces six months on the sidelines if a scan today confirms the club's fear that he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament while on Test duty with the Kiwis at the end of last season.

Coach Brian Noble expects the scan to confirm that Hape faces reconstructive surgery that will rule him out him until July at the earliest.

The problem appears to be a re-occurrence of an injury Hape suffered in the first round of the 2002 NRL season when playing for the New Zealand Warriors.

He pulled up lame in training for the Kiwis' first encounter with Great Britain in the Gillette Tri-Nations but still managed to play with distinction in both of the Kiwis' losses to the Lions.

The swelling in his knee eased during the off-season but flared up again during pre-season training in Portugal. That was the first the Bulls knew of the injury and privately the club are fuming at the New Zealand Rugby League for their failure to notify them of the problem.

If confirmed the news will be a massive blow for the club, who last year lost Tevita Vaikona and Toa Kohe-Love to similar injuries. Neither player appeared for the Bulls again. However that fate is unlikely to befall Hape, who is in the first year of a three-year contract extension.

The club will be desperate to retain the 22-year-old, who enjoyed the best season of his career in 2004, forming a deadly combination with fellow Kiwi Lesley Vainikolo. Playing outside Hape, Vainikolo smashed the single-season Super League try-scoring record, while Hape crossed 24 times himself, including three tries in the two play-off encounters against Leeds Rhinos, to finish as the club's second-top scorer.

Meanwhile, London Skolars claimed a 20-18 victory over Steve McNamara's academy side in a ground-breaking pre-season friendly at Blackrock College in Dublin.

Richard Johnson touched down twice for the Bulls, with Ryan Atkins and Matt Cook - who has signed a three-year contract extension to stay at Odsal - also crossing for a side the included five Irish trialists.