Warburton suffered a dislocation during Wales’ record breaking win over Scotland in the RBS 6 Nations on March 15 and will play no further part in the RaboDirect PRO12 with Cardiff Blues this term as result.
The 25-year-old sat out his region’s defeat to the Ospreys last weekend and will miss the games against Ulster, Edinburgh and Connacht and the home and away clashes with the Scarlets.
He will also be unavailable for Wales’ summer tour of South Africa when Warren Gatland’s men face the Springboks in Durban and Nelspruit, as well as a potential midweek tie with the Southern Kings in Port Elizabeth.
But, while Warburton has freely admitted that he is desperately disappointed to have seen the current campaign end in the way it has, he believes the break could bring big benefits next season and beyond.
“I think for the long term it could be a good thing for me and come September I’ll be raring to go,” Warburton told BBC Sport.
“It’ll be the first time I’ll have a good two and a half months pre-season since maybe 2009 when I first came through.
“The operation was due for the Friday after the Wales-Scotland game…but I have to wait until I get a certain range of movement in my arm before they can operate.
“Now it’s been rescheduled for Thursday this week (today), so I’m definitely going under the knife. The physios can pass you fit on 12 weeks hopefully, which takes me on to the middle of June. After that they hand you over to the conditioners and it’s on to my pre-season then.”
Warburton’s next target with Wales will be a mouth-watering Dove Men Series in November, when Gatland and co take on Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and South Africa across four successive weeks at the Millennium Stadium.
Those fixtures are followed by a 6 Nations opener against England in Cardiff on Friday, February 6, with trips to Scotland and France backed up by a home tie with Ireland before the Championship comes to a close against Italy in Rome on March 21.
