-
Manu Tuilagi will miss the Six Nations with cruciate ligament damage
-
The 25-year-old was hurt early in the first half of Tigers’ Premiership defeat by Saracens
-
He has made just 23 appearances for Tigers since the start of the 2013-14 season
England and Leicester centre Manu Tuilagi will miss the Six Nations and the rest of the Aviva Premiership season with cruciate ligament damage.
The Leicester centre has barely featured this season and only recently returned from a groin injury which kept him on the sidelines for two months and forced him to miss the November internationals last year. Before that he was out for 15 months with the same injury.
Mail Sport broke the story, claiming Tuilagi will not only miss the Six Nations due to the injury, but his chances of getting picked for the British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand have also been crushed.
Only one of his 26 England caps has been under Eddie Jones, who was named head coach in November 2015.
Leicester coach Mauger said: “Unfortunately Manu sustained an ACL injury in the game on Sunday that’s going to put him out for the rest of the season,
“It’s looking like a six-month recovery which is devastating for the bloke, he’s worked so hard to get back to where he is.
“He’s absolutely gutted, but we’ve got a good support team around him, we’ll put a good plan in place and we’ll see him back on the field early next season.”