The fly-half ruptured his Achilles while on regional duty in December and missed Wales’ successful RBS 6 Nations defence.
He was set to make his first start of 2013 in the Scarlets’ RaboDirect PRO12 semi-final defeat to Ulster but was forced to pull out ahead of the kick-off after aggravating the injury.
“I thought everything was fine with my Achilles but it’s a part of rugby,” said the 26-year old.
“It literally happened at the end of the warm-up with five minutes to go until kick-off.
“I was pretty low over the weekend and I’m still coming to terms with it. It’s a shame because I felt really good and my body has been really good but I’m sure this extra break will make things better in the long term.”
“To be so close to actually making it on the field and hitting the target I had set myself was a pretty devastating blow”
Rhys Patchell has replaced Priestland in Wales’ 32-man training squad, which will be reduced ahead of the two-Test tour of Japan.
But the Scarlets star admits a rare summer off could be beneficial in the long run.
“There’s no real rush to come back for anything so I’ll just make sure everything is right and ready to go for the start of next season,” added Priestland.
“I’m sure everything will be fine way before that. It’s a bit of a shame because I felt really good and my body has been really good but I’m sure this extra break will make things better in the long term.”
