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Gloucester will be without Wales scrum-half Tomos Williams for "a little while" after he injured his shoulder during the Autumn Nations Series

Williams has been one of the stand-out players for Gloucester so far this season, since joining the club from Cardiff over the summer.

He sustained the injury during Wales' defeat to Fiji and missed the rest of the series, with Gloucester expecting him out for potentially "more than a month".

"Tommy won't be playing for a little while, he's got a rehab process to go through so I'm hopeful it won't be too long but there's not an exact timescale on him," Gloucester director of rugby George Skivington said.

Williams is unavailable for the Cherry and Whites' Premiership trip to Northampton on Saturday, while he is also likely to miss the start of their Challenge Cup campaign with games against Edinburgh and RC Vannes in December.

"It's not terrible, obviously we'd like him back sooner rather than later," Skivington added. "It's a bang to his shoulder which is as much as I can tell you."

Gloucester return to Premiership action this weekend after a month-long break and after a chastening 31-7 defeat by Exeter in the Premiership Rugby Cup.

They sit sixth in the table but face a trip to Franklin's Gardens for their first meeting with Saints since they were thrashed a record-breaking 90-0 by them in May last season.

Skivington fielded a much-changed fledgling side for that game - which he was criticised for after - but said the experience had been a lesson for many of those players.

"A huge number of those boys are now a make up of the starting first team that has played the start of the season," Skivington said.

"They got some tough experience there, they saw the Premiership at it's most ruthless but they all seem to have come through this year and are blossoming and I'm really positive about that young group.

"Never forget that game, I don't think anybody will."